Jackson Jr. Under Federal Investigation

Federal authorities have asked a congressional ethics committee to temporarily back off its probe of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., fearing it would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

The Office of Congressional Ethics revealed Wednesday it was probing whether Jackson improperly used his congressional staff to wage a political campaign for appointment to the U.S. Senate. At the time, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich was in charge of naming a successor to President Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

The Chicago Sun-Times has learned that the work of the committee began to overlap with that of federal investigators.

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(Natasha Korecki and Dave McKinney, “Feds Turn Up the Heat on Jackson Jr.,” Chicago Sun Times, 9/17/09)