This includes being the highlight of “karaoke nights” during burdensome congressional sessions, “when things got tough or extremely difficult on the House floor.” The corrupt congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr., pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this year for illegally using $750,000 in campaign money to finance his lavish lifestyle. He hasn’t been sentenced and his buddies in Congress are trying to help him out by appealing to the federal judge that will determine how much time he serves.

This particular request for leniency in Jackson’s sentencing comes from Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a Cleveland Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Wilkins Fudge describes Jackson Jr. as “highly intelligent” and reminisces about the disgraced lawmaker’s karaoke skills and one-man skits. “He made us realize that we could still have fun while addressing important national issues,” Fudge writes.  

The congresswoman also tells the judge that Jackson Jr. is a “tireless advocate for the poor and underserved” who is known for his efforts to redevelop decaying neighborhoods. In short, Fudge claims Jackson Jr. is a “loyal public servant with so much more to give” and she humbly tells the judge that “Jesse is worth saving and I know he can continue to have a positive impact on the lives of others as he has with my colleagues and me.”

Here is a more accurate version of this not so loyal public servant, whose many transgressions landed him on Judicial Watch’s list of Washington’s Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians. Before getting busted for illegally financing his extravagant lifestyle with campaign money, Jackson Jr. was embroiled in a massive political scandal for attempting to bribe his way into the U.S. Senate.

The brazen scheme was exposed during the corruption trial and retrial of convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is serving a 14-year sentence in Colorado. JW covered both trials live in a Chicago federal court where major political drama that reached all the way up to the White House unfolded daily.

According to court testimony, Jackson Jr., who represented the Chicago area in the U.S. House for nearly two decades, and his top fundraiser offered to buy the Illinois seat that opened up in the U.S. Senate when Barack Obama got elected president. The son of the world-renowned “civil rights” con man met with the disgraced ex governor’s representative in late 2008 and offered to pay $1 million in exchange for the appointment, which was to be made by the governor.

After all, the feds have been breathing down the Illinois Democrat’s neck—and he’s the target of a House Ethics Committee probe—for participating in a political scandal involving President Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat. Details first surfaced during the 2010 federal corruption trial of impeached/convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Jackson attended a 2008 meeting in which his top fundraiser (recently arrested in a separate bribery scheme) tried to by him the Senate seat vacated when Obama got elected president, according to court testimony.

For months Jackson refused to comment on the powwow, which took place at a Chicago restaurant and was also attended by a Blagojevich representative and prominent Democratic fundraiser and Chicago businessman Raghuveer Nayak. Just days before Jackson took medical leave Nayak was arrested by the FBI on charges of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to doctors.

Maybe that put Jackson over the edge. After all, Nayak offered Blagojevich, now in prison, $1 million to appoint Jackson senator, according to testimony delivered at both of Blagojevich’s corruption trials in Chicago. As governor Blagojevich was charged with filling the Senate seat and he tried to sell it to the highest bidder. 

With so many witnesses spilling the beans, Jackson eventually admitted that he was physically present at the meeting but had no idea what was going on because the plot went down in a foreign language. The prominent group of Indian Americans who offered to bribe the governor on his behalf spoke in a language he didn’t understand, possibly Hindi, Jackson later explained to his constituents.  

If that’s Camp Jackson’s best defense, you can see how it could possibly trigger a personal/emotional crisis for the politician. About a month ago he vanished and his office took nearly two weeks to reveal that he was on medical leave for “exhaustion.” A few weeks later, Democratic leaders in Congress pressured Jackson’s staff for more information since it became obvious he wasn’t going to return anytime in the near future. 

The response: Jackson’s condition was worse than originally thought and required him to be hospitalized for emotional problems. After much speculation from various media outlets, Jackson’s doctor issued a statement saying: “The Congressman is receiving intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for a mood disorder. He is responding positively to treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.”