Jackson Dumps Campaign Manager

By Kevin Robinson in News on Dec 30, 2009 3:20PM

Second place Democrat Senate candidate Cheryle Jackson made like the Chicago Bulls and dumped her campaign manager last week on Christmas Eve. Campaign Manager Rodney Shelton was replaced by Deputy Campaign Manager Lisa Hargrove. "It's just an internal move," campaign spokesman Bob Kettlewell said of the personnel change. And while Jackson is the bridesmaid to Alexi Giannoulias's bridezilla, her campaign hasn't generated nearly the excitement that former City of Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman's candidacy has.

Not to be outdone, however, her candidacy has brought some of that classic Chicago-style drama to the race, as Jackson, who was Blagojevich's deputy chief of staff for communications until late 2006, has been the subject of a series of emails that that Illinois Auditor General William Holland has retrieved as part of his investigation into the disgraced former governor. While no wrongdoing on the part of Jackson has been alleged, connections to Blagojevich probably aren't a good thing for Senate candidates.