Alderman Sandi Jackson is outraged that Gov. Rod Blagojevich suggested her husband, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., would be willing to pay to secure the senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
The congressman will meet with the U.S. Attorney's office on Monday to answer questions about being identified as "Senate Candidate 5." In wiretap transcripts, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald detailed what the governor said about what he might be able to get from Jackson.
"He'd raise me 500 grand. Then the other guy would raise a million if I made him senator," Fitzgerald said Tuesday, reading from the transcripts.
The alderman says her husband is an honest man who ran a public campaign. What others might do, however, she can't say.
"This is not Jesse," the alderman said. "The unfortunate part about this is you never know what people are doing when they're not in your presence, and you can't control what people do when they're not in your presence. Someone may be thinking that they're helping you when they're actually hurting you."
Sandi Jackson has been an alderman for nearly two years. Her husband had considered a run for mayor and opted out, but both have been in the public spotlight for years.
"We're shellshocked right now at all of these allegations," she said. "We haven't really talked about the senate seat, but I know that in Jesse's heart, he still wants it.
Jesse Jackson said that his will and courage are being tested through this process.
Sandi Jackson said that when the governor was in congress, she and his wife, Patti Blagojevich, were friends, but once the governor left congress, they barely spoke.
