Prosecutors told the presiding judge that a witness, if asked, would place Jackson at a meeting where a businessman offered to raise $1 million for Blagojevich if the governor appointed Jackson to the Senate.
Jackson hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and said in a recent statement he was “never part of any improper scheme with Blagojevich or anyone else.” A spokeswoman for Jackson, Theresa Caldwell, said Thursday that he wouldn’t comment further.
Still, it could lead some in the Democratic Party to consider Jackson damaged goods, said Kent Redfield, a professor emeritus of politics at the University of Illinois Springfield.
“I’m not sure Jesse Jackson’s biggest problem is Rod Blagojevich offering a moral judgment on his character,” Redfield said.
Redfield's comments were featured in a July 15, 2010, article by the Associated Press.
