By: Mark Glennon*
Sen. Emil Jones III (D-Chicago) was indicted Tuesday for three felonies, alleging that he took bribes from a firm that installed red-light cameras throughout the state and lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
His father, Emil Jones, Jr., former president of the Illinois Senate, is widely described as Barack Obama’s “godfather” and “political mentor.”
Among many places describing that relationship is this CBS story from 2008.
Jones, wrote CBS, “tapped Obama to take the lead on high-profile legislative initiatives that he now boasts about in his presidential campaign.”
“He’s been indispensable to Barack’s career. He wants to see a black president before he gets called home,” fellow state Sen. Rickey Hendon, a Democrat, told CBS at the time.
At first they didn’t click but, “but their relationship changed in 2002,” as CBS described, when Obama was an Illinois state Senator. “Obama approached Jones with an unexpected proposal: Use your new clout to back me for U.S. Senate, CBS reported. “It clicked and made sense,” Jones said.
In an e-mail, CBS said, Obama described Jones “a powerful advocate for those who need a voice” and someone with “passion for public service,” but others offered a different picture:
When Jones married a state employee, she suddenly got a 60 percent raise. His son got a state job that wasn’t advertised to the public. A nephew and stepson got computer consulting jobs from a college that received a $4.5 million grant for computing needs. He has blocked bills sponsored by legislators who challenge him, and dug up an obscure Senate rule to reverse the passage of a consumer-friendly measure opposed by electric companies that had donated to his campaign….State Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, laughingly accuses Jones of a little “bill-jacking” – taking issues that other senators had been working on and giving them to Obama. Trotter, for instance, said he had hoped to be named chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee but the job went to Obama instead.
That’s just a start of the history of Emil Jones, Jr. and his relationship to Obama. Stay tuned, because national stories on their relationship will no doubt be coming.
Emil Jones Jr., the now-retired former lawmaker, issued this statement about his son Tuesday afternoon:
The charges brought against my son, Emil Jones III, do not reflect the man he is. Everyone knows he is an honest, hardworking legislator. I intend to fight with him and stand alongside him throughout this process.
*Mark Glennon is Wirepoints’ founder.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Brings back nightmares. IL politician that did an assist to drive the state in a brick wall and viola—that politician believes they are entitled to hold a national political position. Mr. Jones was “Exhibit A” for all that is wrong in IL.
I will not be holding my breath for the media to produce unflattering stories about their favorite community organizer and Nobel prize winner.
I was thinking in terms of the conservative press.
I’m really not expecting any national stories. In the media’s eyes Obama does no wrong. It’s unfortunate that’s what has happened to our media.
$5,000 is chump change, that’s smaller than most of his constituent’s Earned Income Credit tax refund. Why bother risking jail for $5,000?
Politicians can always be bought cheaply…especially in Illinois. Their greed knows no bounds as this case shows.
This is funny to me. Back in the day I built a custom billboard to promote Bill Black for state representative here in East Central Illinois. The local WCIA types came out and interviewed me and I was told this helped get him re-elected. Bill was a great person and did a lot for Illinois. He was running against a lady by the name of Young as I recall. We had these Chicago think tank PAC’s sending money down to Champaign area in the form of those dirty mailings promoting this woman and pushing abortion as I recall back then.… Read more »
Crooks run in the blood line
Shocking! Nothing to see here.
Emil Jones
Tony Rezko
William (“Billy The Bomber”) Ayers
Rev Jeremiah (“God Damn America”) Wright
Obama deserves to be judged by his closest friends
Yep. But why not just hire those guys to be University professor types? Oh wait, we do that in Illinois already.
Don’t forget commie mentor, Frank Marshall Davis; or Superior Bank sub-prime scam artist turned Secretary of Commerce, Penney Pritzker.
Wow, another crooked pol in Illinois? Who woulda thunk it?