February 21, 2013

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER and PETE YOST | Associated Press

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., holding back tears, entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He faces 46 to 57 months in prison, and a fine of $10,000 to $100,000, under a plea deal with prosecutors.

A few hours later, his wife, Sandra Jackson, pleaded guilty to filing false joint federal income tax returns that knowingly understated the income the couple received. She faces one to two years in prison and a fine of $3,000 to $40,000.

In a 17-page prosecution document, Jackson’s wife admitted that from mid-2006 through mid-October of last year, she failed to report $600,000 in income that she and her husband earned from 2005 to 2011.

Before entering the plea to a conspiracy charge, Jesse Jackson told U.S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins, “I’ve never been more clear in my life” in his decision to plead guilty.

Later, when Wilkins asked if Jackson committed the acts outlined in court papers, the former congressman replied, “I did these things.” He added later, “Sir, for years I lived in my campaign,” and used money from the campaign for personal use.

Jackson dabbed his face with tissues, and at point a court employee brought some tissues to Jackson's lawyer, who gave them to the ex-congressman. Jackson told the judge he was waiving his right to trial.

“In perfect candor, your honor, I have no interest in wasting the taxpayers’ time or money,” he said.

U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen called the guilty plea “so tragic because it represents such wasted potential” and that Jackson used his campaign as “his own personal piggybank.” He said that Jackson could have been the voice of a new generation.

Machen credited Jackson for coming in early and telling the truth. “But today is his day of reckoning,” the prosecutor said.

The fraud, perpetuated over seven years, was “not a momentary lapse of judgment,” Machen said.He called Jackson’s victims the American people and said that Jackson betrayed the trust of contributors who “donated their hard-earned money.”

Machen declined to say what launched the investigation, but he said it did not stem from the House Ethics Committee investigation into Jackson’s dealings with Rod Blagojevich when he was governor. Blagojevich is serving a prison sentence for trying to sell President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat.

Jackson had been a Democratic congressman from Illinois from 1995 until he resigned last November. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 28, and his wife on July 1. Wilkins, who presided over both guilty pleas, is not bound by the terms of the plea agreements. Both Jacksons are free until sentencing.

Since last June, Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized twice at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for treatment of bipolar disorder and other issues, and he stayed out of the public eye for months, even during the November elections. His attorney said after the court appearance that Jackson’s health is “not an excuse” for his actions, “just a fact.”

Jackson entered the courtroom holding hands with his wife and looking a bit dazzled as he surveyed the packed room. He kissed his wife and headed to the defense table.

Jackson’s father, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, sat in the front row. Before the hearing started, he wrote notes on a small piece of paper. When the proceedings started, he sat expressionless and virtually motionless, hands folded. As he made his way back to the courtroom for Sandra Jackson's hearing, he took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. Several other family members also attended.

Jesse Jackson Jr., wearing a blue shirt and blue-patterned tie and dark suit, answered a series of questions from the judge, mostly in a muffled tone. When the judge asked if he had consumed any drugs or alcohol in the previous 24 hours, Jackson said he had a beer Tuesday night.

As the proceedings wound up, Jackson sat at the defense table, furrowed his brow and shook his head, in what looked like an expression of disbelief. After the hearing was adjourned, he walked over to his wife, grabbed her hand, and then was greeted by his father. Jackson Jr. patted his father on the back a few times.

“Tell everybody back home I’m sorry I let them down, OK?” Jackson told Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet, according to her Tweet from the scene.

Sandra Jackson, 49, wearing a black pantsuit, sobbed visibly during her court hearing, as her husband watched from the row behind the defense table. Sandi, as she’s known, was a Chicago alderman before she resigned last month during the federal investigation.

Jesse Jackson Jr., 47, used campaign money to buy items including a $43,350 gold-plated men’s Rolex watch and $9,587.64 worth of children’s furniture, according to court papers filed in the case. His wife spent $5,150 on fur capes and parkas, the court documents said. Under the plea deal, Jackson must forfeit $750,000, plus tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of memorabilia items and furs. Sandi Jackson must also pay $168,000 in restitution.

More details emerged in a 22-page statement compiled by prosecutors, filed Wednesday, in which Jackson admitted that he and his wife used campaign credit cards to buy 3,100 personal items worth $582,772.58 from 2005 through April of last year. Personal expenditures at restaurants, nightclubs and lounges cost $60,857.04. Personal expenditures at sports clubs and lounges cost $16,058.91, including maintaining a family membership at a gym. Personal spending for alcohol cost $5,814.43. Personal spending for dry cleaning cost $14,513.42.

Among the individual purchases made with campaign credit cards:

—A $466 dinner for two of “a personal nature” at Mandarin Oriental’s CityZen restaurant.

—A washer, a dryer, a range and a refrigerator for the Jacksons’ Chicago home.

—Multiple flat-screen televisions, multiple Blu-Ray DVD players and numerous DVDs for their Washington, D.C., home.

—A five-day health retreat for one of Mrs. Jackson’s relatives.

—Stuffed animals and accessories for them.

—Goods at Costco, from video games to toilet paper.

According to the prosecution’s court papers, Jackson even arranged for the use of campaign money to buy two mounted elk heads for his congressional office. Last summer, as the FBI closed in, a Jackson staffer identified only as “Person A” tried to arrange for the sale of the elk heads, but the FBI was one step ahead. The bureau had an undercover FBI employee contact the staffer, claiming to be an interior designer who had received the person’s name from a taxidermist and inquiring whether there were elk heads for sale. They agreed on a price of $5,300.

Jackson’s wife, knowing that the elk heads had been purchased with campaign funds, directed the staffer to move the elk heads from Washington to Chicago and to instruct the sale contact to wire the proceeds to her husband’s personal account.

Over the years, the unidentified “Person A” provided significant help to the Jacksons in carrying out the scheme. Jackson used the aide for many different bill-paying activities, including paying construction contractors for work on Jackson’s Washington home.

From 2008 through last March, Jackson’s re-election campaign issued $76,150.39 in checks to the staff member, who was entitled to only $11,400 for work done for the campaign. The aide spent the remainder of the funds from the campaign for the Jacksons.

Machen, the U.S. attorney, said that prosecutors could have come up with more severe charges against Sandi Jackson.

“They do have children. We’re sensitive to that,” he said. “We utilized our discretion.”

One of Jesse Jackson Jr.’s lawyers, Reid H. Weingarten, told reporters after the hearing that there’s reason for optimism.

“A man that talented, a man that devoted to public service, a man who’s done so much for so many, has another day. There will be another chapter in Jesse Jackson’s life,” he said.

Weingarten said that his client has “serious health issues. And those health issues are directly related to his present predicament. That’s not an excuse, that’s just a fact. And Jesse’s turned the corner there as well. There’s reason for optimism here too. Jesse’s gotten great treatment, he’s has great doctors, and I think he’s gotten his arms around his problem.”

As the hearing for Jackson got under way Wednesday, newly filed court papers disclosed that the judge had offered to disqualify himself from handling the cases against Jackson and his wife.

As a Harvard Law School student, Wilkins said he had supported the presidential campaign of Jackson’s father and that as an attorney in 1999, Wilkins had been a guest on a show hosted by Jackson’s father.

Prosecutors and lawyers for the couple said they were willing to proceed with the cases with Wilkins presiding. Judicial ethics require that a judge disqualify himself if his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.

February 21, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged with slapping a toddler on a Minneapolis-to-Atlanta flight is out of a job, his former employer said Sunday.

Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, of Hayden, Idaho, is no longer an employee of AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composites Group, Daniel Keeney of DPK Public Relations confirmed Sunday night.

Al Haase, president and CEO of AGC, issued a statement early Sunday that, while not referring to Hundley by name, called reports of behavior by one of its executives on recent personal travel "offensive and disturbing" and said he "is no longer employed with the company." Keeney would not say whether Hundley was fired or resigned. Hundley was president of AGC's Unitech Composites and Structures unit.

Hundley was charged last week in federal court in Atlanta with simple assault for allegedly slapping the boy during the Feb. 8 flight. His attorney, Marcia Shein, of Decatur, Ga., said Saturday that Hundley will plead not guilty. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail.

Shein did not immediately returned messages seeking comment left Sunday evening by The Associated Press. Hundley does not have a listed phone number.

The boy's mother, Jessica Bennett, 33, told the FBI their flight was on final descent into Atlanta when her son, who is now 19 months old, started to cry due to the altitude change. Hundley "told her to shut that (N-word) baby up," FBI special agent Daron Cheney said in a sworn statement. She said Hundley then slapped him in the face, scratching the boy below his right eye and causing him to scream even louder.

Bennett told Twin Cities television stations on Saturday that the incident has caused her family a great deal of trauma and that her son, Jonah, had been outgoing but had turned apprehensive of strangers.

Hundley became increasingly obnoxious and appeared intoxicated during the flight and complained that her son was too big to sit on her lap, she said.

"He reeked of alcohol," Bennett told KARE-TV. "He was belligerent, and I was uncomfortable."

Bennett said she was shocked by the racial slur she says Hundley used when Jonah started crying.

"And I said, 'What did you say?' because I couldn't believe that he would say that," she told WCCO-TV. "He fell onto my face and his mouth was in my ear and he said it again but even more hateful. And he's on my face, so I pushed him away."

Bennett and her husband are white, while Jonah, whom they adopted, is black.

"We wish to emphasize that the behavior that has been described is contradictory to our values, embarrassing and does not in any way reflect the patriotic character of the men and women of diverse backgrounds who work tirelessly in our business," Haase said in his statement.

February 21, 2013

By JULIE PACE | Associated Press 

The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Barack Obama to rights for gay couples.

Obama raised expectations among opponents of the Proposition 8 ban when he declared in last month's inaugural address that gays and lesbians must be "treated like anyone else under the law." The administration has until Feb. 28 to intervene in the case by filing a "friend of the court" brief.

The Proposition 8 ballot initiative was approved by California voters in 2008 and overturned a state Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage. Twenty-nine other states have constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, while nine states and Washington, D.C., recognize same-sex marriage.

An administration brief alone is unlikely to sway the Justices but the federal government's opinion does carry weight with the court.

A final decision on whether to file a brief has not been made, a senior administration official said. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli is consulting with the White House on the matter, said the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to address the private deliberations publicly.

While the Justice Department would formally make the filing, the president himself is almost certain to make the ultimate decision on whether to file.

Obama has a complicated history on gay marriage. As a presidential candidate in 2008, he opposed the California ban but didn't endorse gay marriage. As he ran for re-election last year, he announced his personal support for same-sex marriage but said marriage was an issue that should be decided by the states, not the federal government.

To some, Obama's broad call for gay rights during his Jan. 21 inaugural address was a signal that he now sees a federal role in defining marriage.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law," Obama said during his remarks on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. "For if we are truly created equal, than surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

But administration officials said Obama — a former constitutional law professor — was not foreshadowing any legal action in his remarks and was simply restating his personal belief in the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

Seeking to capitalize on growing public support for gay marriage, advocates are calling on the administration to file a broad brief not only asking the court to declare California's ban unconstitutional but also urging the Justices to make all state bans illegal.

"If they do make that argument and the court accepts it, the ramifications could be very sweeping," said Richard Socarides, an attorney and advocate.

The administration could also file a narrower brief that would ask the court to issue a decision applying only to California. Or it could decide not to weigh in on the case at all.

The Supreme Court, which will take up the case on March 26, has several options for its eventual ruling. Among them:

— The justices could uphold the state ban on gay marriage and say citizens of a state have the right to make that call.

— The court could endorse an appeals court ruling that would make same-sex marriage legal in California but apply only to that state.

— The court could issue a broader ruling that would apply to California and seven other states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. In those states, gay couples can join in civil unions that have all the benefits of marriage but cannot be married.

— The broadest ruling would be one that says the Constitution forbids states from banning same-sex unions.

For weeks, supporters and opponents of Proposition 8 have been lobbying the administration to side with them.

Last month, Theodore Olson and David Boies, lawyers arguing for gay marriage, met with Verrilli and other government lawyers to urge the administration to file a brief in the case. A few days later, Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Proposition 8, met with the solicitor general to ask the government to stay out of the case. Those kinds of meetings are typical in a high court case when the government is not a party and is not asked by the court to make its views known.

Boies and Chad Griffin, president of the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, also had a meeting at the White House on the case.

Ahead of next week's deadline, nearly two dozen states have filed briefs with the Supreme Court asking the Justices to uphold the California measure.

"There's a critical mass of states that have spoken out and believe states should continue to have the right to define marriage as between one man and one woman," said Jim Campbell, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents supporters of Proposition 8.

Public opinion has shifted in support of gay marriage in recent years. In May 2008, Gallup found that 56 percent of Americans felt same-sex marriages should not be recognized by the law as valid. By November 2012, some 53 percent felt they should be legally recognized.

Obama has overwhelming political support among those who support same-sex marriage. Exit polls from the November election showed that 49 percent of voters believed their states should legally recognize gay marriage. More than 70 percent of those voters backed Obama over Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

One day after the court hears the California case, the justices will hear arguments on another gay marriage case, this one involving provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. The act defines marriage as between a man and a woman for the purpose of deciding who can receive a range of federal benefits.

The Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law in 2011 but continues to enforce it. Because DOMA is a federal law and the government is a party to the case, the administration does not have to state its opposition through a friend of the court brief.

February 21, 2013

By MICHELLE FAUL  Associated Press

Academic and co-founder of South Africa's Black Conscious Movement, Mamphela Ramphele, announced the creation of a new political party Monday "to build the South Africa of our dreams," lambasting the 101-year-old African National Congress of Nelson Mandela for corruption and power abuse.

The 65-year-old medical doctor, who was close to activist Steve Biko before he was assassinated and bore him a son, told a news conference that her party will contest the 2014 elections, campaign "from village to village" and serve millions of South Africans "who have confirmed a hunger for a new beginning."

Her party joins several in the opposition at a time when South Africa is burdened by a growing chasm between rich and poor, as well as massive unemployment, and increasingly violent protests against job losses, utility shortages and an education and health system in crisis. She said Monday that she was appalled to learn that 71 percent of South Africans between the ages of 15 to 38 years are unemployed. That group, she said, makes up 60 percent of the population.

Ramphele, among four people appointed managing directors of The World Bank in 2000, has what South Africans call "struggle credentials." She was an anti-apartheid activist and domestic partner of Black Consciousness co-founder Biko, with whom she had a son. Ramphele spent seven years under house arrest enforced by the white-minority apartheid regime in the 1970s, and she used her expulsion to a remote rural area to start a health program and empower women through initiatives like growing vegetables.

But analysts say they don't know what she will bring to the political table, noting that her criticisms of the ANC are no different from those of several other opposition leaders, that she has no grass-roots support and is not well-known even in cities. The ANC party that fought a guerrilla war to liberate South Africans from apartheid has won resounding victories at past elections.

"The dream has faded for the many living in poverty and destitution in our increasingly unequal society," Ramphele said. "And perhaps worst of all, my generation has to confess to the young people of our country: We have failed you."

Ramphele said her party, called Agang in the Sesotho language meaning "Build," will be funded by South Africans at home and abroad. City Press reported that she had recently been on a fundraising trip abroad where she canvassed South African ambassadors.

She also criticized the government's foreign policy, saying South Africa has lost "moral authority and international respect" for taking positions on Zimbabwe, Sudan's Darfur province and Myanmar that flout the human rights principles of the constitution.

She also attacked the decision to refuse a visa to Tibet's exiled religious leader, the Dalai Lama, as "the surrender of our country's national sovereignty to appease foreign powers such as China."

Recently she has become a businesswoman, sitting on the boards of several companies including Anglo American Corp. and Gold Fields Limited. This makes her part of the small elite that has benefited from black empowerment programs, criticized for promoting ANC members and cronies.

Ramphele has drawn the ire of the ANC-allied National Union of Mineworkers for defending companies that want to lay off workers in the aftermath of violent and prolonged strikes that led to the police killings of at least 34 mine workers last year. She said it was better to lose jobs now and work on creating new high-tech jobs.

On Monday, Ramphele spoke of the need for reform and innovation in the mining sector that is a pillar of the South African economy, and said its reliance on migrant labor and large numbers of cheap, low-skilled workers is unsustainable.

The union had welcomed her resignation from Gold Fields last week, ahead of Monday's announcement. Spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told The Associated Press that in the five years she chaired the company "there has been no transformation, in fact we have seen the state of health and safety get worse."

Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche denied that, saying the mine has had "safety issues" but the number of fatalities has consistently decreased.

Lunsche said Ramphele "has certainly put a focus on sustainable development and drove very hard at board level for everything from housing to investing in communities."

Like most miners in South Africa, many Gold Fields workers live in shacks. The company says on its website that it has reduced room density in its hostels to just over two to a room from six in 2006 in a major housing investment program. Ramphele's interest in the plight of people living in overcrowded hostels led her to start the Western Cape Men's Hostel Dwellers Association in the 1980s.

In 1988 she went to Harvard University as the Carnegie Distinguished International Fellow and wrote a doctorate of philosophy thesis based on her research at hostels. She later wrote a book about life in the migrant labor hostels.