Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson, will learn Wednesday how long -- if at all -- they'll spend in prison.
The former congressman in February pleaded guilty to charges he spent $750,000 of campaign cash on personal items, as well to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and false statements.
In his words, "I lived off my campaign."
Sandi Jackson pleaded guilty on the same day to tax fraud.
One of the greatest ironies of the case is that Jackson's behavior was likely discovered in an investigation where he faced no charges: the allegation that he attempted to buy the Barack Obama Senate seat from then-governor Rod Blagojevich.
"(Former US Attorney) Patrick Fitzgerald looked over that with a fine toothed comb and declined," said Brand, noting that it almost certainly during that investigation, that Jackson's campaign finances began undergoing scrutiny by the FBI.
"Had Blagojevich not been present, had he not had an interaction with him, I doubt that anyone would have discovered this," he said, calling Jackson's troubles "collateral damage" from the Blagojevich scandal.
But even with Jackson's fall from grace, and as extreme as his behavior apparently was, it does not represent the norm on Capitol Hill, according to Stanley Brand, former House Counsel.
"It's by a magnitude much larger than anything we've seen recently," he said Tuesday. "It's an outlier. ... It's on the edge. It's far afield from what I think the conventional behavior of most members is."
Still, prosecutors allege, and Jackson admitted, that the wholesale theft from his campaign fund went undetected for at least seven years.
"The FEC never caught this stuff," said Paul Ryan of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington watchdog group. He faults a system where the Federal Election Commission, the very agency charged with enforcing election law, has no authority to do spot checks of political funds.
"As long as you're a confident criminal, as long as you submit campaign reports with the Ts crossed and the Is dotted, you're not likely to be caught by the FEC," he said. "Mr. Jackson covered his tracks well enough to get away with this lawbreaking year after year after year."
Ryan argues the FEC should be given the authority to perform random audits of campaign funds, much as convicted felons and even professional athletes are subjected to random drug tests.
"That would deter some of this activity, if a committee knew there was a chance they would get caught," he said.
It is likely that Jackson's medical history will become a focal point of his sentencing hearing. On Tuesday, the government agreed to leave many details of the former congressman's medical records out of public court filings. But at the same time, prosecutors said his mental health arguments would likely be one of the central disputes at sentencing.
Separately on Tuesday, Martha's Table, a Washington, D.C. food pantry, sent a letter to Judge Amy Berman Jackson, saying they would welcome Sandi Jackson as a volunteer if she is sentenced to perform community service.
The agency says it often uses ex-offenders as volunteers, and has no prior relationship with Mrs. Jackson.
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