Jesse Jackson Jr, son of the infamous Jesse Jackson, a name I know you’re all familiar with, is currently not working but collects 6 figures, mostly on your dime.
The total comes from a mix of workers’ compensation, as well as Social Security Disability Insurance payments.
“Whatever benefits Jesse Jackson Jr. has, he earned them, and as a matter of law, he’s entitled to them,” Chicago attorney Barry Schatz said. “If the government thought he wasn’t entitled to them, they wouldn’t be paying them.”
According to his attorney, the workers’ compensation benefits are for a temporary but total disability. While the ex-congressman is on medication and “not currently able to work,” according to Schatz.
Jackson, 51, receives about $138,400 a year — more than he made as a freshman congressman in 1995. Most of that, around $100,000, is workers’ compensation and tax-free.
Jackson spent 17 years in Congress until he resigned during an FBI investigation and eventually plead guilty in 2013 in regard to using around $750,000 in campaign cash over several years for vacations, luxury goods, celebrity memorabilia and other items. At the time he resigned in late November 2012, he was being paid $174,000 a year.
Schatz, who is representing his divorce, had no explanation on how the former congressman’s job had caused his bipolar disorder and depression. “I can’t give you an explanation as to how and why,” he said. “I can tell you that medical experts have diagnosed him, and as a result of the diagnosis, he is entitled to disability payments.
“If someone had a choice whether they wanted to be bipolar or not, I don’t know of anybody that would want to choose to be bipolar, no matter what they were paid,” he said.
The divorce is what brought this 6-figure-income to light.
Jesse Jackson claims that his monthly exposes are just over $1,600, while his soon-to-be ex-wife claims no income but says that her monthly expenses are over $11,000. She owed about $13,700 on a Visa card, $11,000 on a Discover card and $10,500 on a MasterCard, according to credit card statements given the court
So how is someone who plead guilty, was investigated by the FBI, and so much more being GIVEN $100,000 of taxpayer money?
(H/T Chicago Tribune)