TPMMuckraker
February 17, 2013 - February 23, 2013

David Rivera

Report: Democrat Tied To Ex-Rep. Rivera To Be Charged

An out-of-nowhere 2012 Democratic Congressional candidate with ties to former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) is scheduled to be hit with federal charges on Friday, according to The Miami Herald.

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Topics: David Rivera, Justin Lamar Sternad

Jesse Jackson Jr.

Unexplained $25,000 Hangs Over The Jackson Jr. Case


Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) walks to his car outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington D.C., Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013.

Meet "Person F."

In the real world, Person F has a real name, a real job, a real life. But in court papers filed over the past week, detailing the charges against former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), Person F is simply Person F.

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Topics: Alabama, Illinois, Jesse Jackson Jr.

Jesse Jackson Jr.

What Did Jesse Jackson Jr. Spend All That Money On?

Update: February 20, 2013, 6:03 PM

The elk heads did him in.

On the same day that former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the misuse of around $750,000 in campaign funds, prosecutors filed court papers offering more details about what the couple spent all that money on.

And from the looks of it, a couple of elk heads led to the downfall of the Illinois lawmaker who was once seen as a rising political star.

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Topics: Illinois, Jesse Jackson Jr.

Jesse Jackson Jr.

Jackson's Guilty Plea: 'For Years I Lived Off My Campaign'


Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013.

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty Wednesday in a federal courtroom in Washington D.C. to charges stemming from his misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds.

"For years I lived off my campaign,"Jackson Jr. told the court, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. "I used money that should have been for campaign purposes for personal purposes."

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Topics: Illinois, Jesse Jackson Jr.

David Axelrod

Axelrod: If Money In Politics Is Inevitable, Let It Go Straight To Candidates

Former White House senior adviser David Axelrod took to Twitter on Wednesday to call for an end to the "SuperPac and faux SuperPac game," and proposing a campaign finance system where fully-disclosed funds go straight to candidates as an alternative.

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Topics: Campaign Finance, David Axelrod

CREW

Watchdog Group Sues IRS Over Dark Money Rules


Former Democratic congressional candidate Dr. David Gill, in a campaign photograph.

David Gill, an emergency room physician, ran for Congress as a Democrat in Illinois' 13th District last year. Gill's platform included ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, eliminating subsidies for oil companies, defending gun rights in Congress, and reining in "profiteering" in health care. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, a dark money group called the American Action Network spent more than $1 million on negative ads opposing Gill. On Election Day, Gill lost to his opponent, Republican Rodney Davis, by .3 percent of the vote.

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Topics: CREW, Campaign Finance, Dark Money