House Ethics Probe into Jesse Jackson, Jr. Moves Forward

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 2, 2011 5:10PM

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is still on the collective mind of the House Ethics Committee, which announced their investigation into Jackson's attempts to win appointment to the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama's election as President will continue.

The committee released a 300-page report on their investigation to date that includes references to Jackson campaign fund-raiser Raghu Nayak. Last year, Nayak told authorities he approached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich with an offer to raise campaign funds for Blagojevich in exchange for Jackson's appointment to the Senate seat. Jackson was identified in the case against Blagojevich as "Senate Candidate Number Five" when Blagojevich was arrested in 2008.

Jackson's attorneys released a response to the Ethics Committee in which he says "that there is no basis for [the ethics committee’s] conclusion that he may have violated House rules or federal law and urges the Committee to close its investigation of this matter.”