Jesse and Gerrymandering

“I used monies that should have been used for campaign purposes, and I used them for myself personally, to benefit me personally. And I am acknowledging that which the government has presented is accurate.”

—Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins, Feb. 20, 2013.

To the humiliation that Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, Sandi, imposed on Illinois, you can add a political indictment: This state’s egregious gerrymandering aided and abetted the Jacksons’ long crime spree. If Jackson had been running for office in a competitive district — rather than in one of the nation’s most overwhelmingly Democratic — the couple arguably would have had to spend campaign funds on needs more urgent than Build-a-Bear toy animals, what the feds delicately call Costco “undergarments” and the goofy mounted elk heads.
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