When Jackson Presses, Funds Tend to Follow
CHICAGO — When news broke in January that one of his charities had paid $36,000 to help move his then-pregnant
mistress to Los Angeles, the Rev. Jesse Jackson vowed to take some time off for spiritual and family healing.
Four days later, though, he was back on the job, welcoming his most generous corporate benefactors to a four-day conference and black-tie gala in New York. The event raised $2.1 million for Jackson’s Citizenship Education Fund--the same fund that had cut the check for his friend, Karin Stanford.
It was a powerful example of how Jesse Jackson’s personal and public lives overlap--and how the finances of Jackson, his relatives and his friends are closely intertwined with his charitable fund-raising machine.
Two of Jackson’s sons own a lucrative beer distributorship, thanks in part to introductions made by a wealthy friend of the minister’s. Jackson and his
wife own stock in a company that has profited handsomely, if indirectly, from Jackson’s pressure on companies to do business with minority firms.
Finances: His criticisms of firms sometimes yield donations. He defends deal-making, calling it as legitimate as desegregation.
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