Former Blago Aide Blows It

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 18, 2009 2:00PM

Just a few days after formally announcing that she'll be running for the seat that Roland Burris (maybe) is going to vacate, Cheryle Jackson's name is in the news, and it isn't because she's running for federal office. Her name is coming up in conjunction with emails that Illinois Auditor General William Holland has retrieved as part if his investigation into what may be one of Blago's biggest political fiascoes and certainly a hilarious fuck up.

After the Pilgrim Baptist church burned down (shortly before Blago was up for re-election) he promised the congregation that he's come up with some state cash to help rebuild their church. Of course, once everyone realized that state money can't go to a church, no matter how nice the architecture is, Blago and his cronies tried to launder the money through Loop Lab School, which was renting space from the church. Of course, hilarity ensued as the ex-governor, the school's leadership, the church heads and, just for good measure, atheist activist Rob Sherman tangled over the $1 million "state grant" that went the Loop Lab School (which then rented space over by the Sears Tower, since the church sure as hell wasn't going to be rebuilt with the dough), who should get it, where it went and how it should be spent.

Anyway, Now it looks like Jackson, who was Blagojevich's deputy chief of staff for communications until late 2006, has her name all over this fiasco literally, appearing in several emails amongst Blago's staff concerning the money. She says that's not the case, though. Of course, we're just left scratching our heads and wondering about Cheryle Jackson. She couldn't come up with the scratch to just take the seat back in December when it was up for grabs?