Jesse Jackson is the subject of this Talking Points memo.
Reverend Jackson has amended his 1999 tax return for the tax exempt Citizenship Education Fund, finally disclosing the names of 40 donors that were not listed in the original return. For example, we've learned that a guy named Chester Davenport gave Citizenship $50,000 after Ameritech sold him part of its cellular phone business. Jesse Jackson was a vocal opponent of Ameritech's merger with SBC Communications until Mr. Davenport got the Ameritech deal. Then, Jackson dropped his opposition to the merger. Then Davenport greased Reverend Jackson $50,000 are you getting the picture here?
Davenport's company also gave Jackson $50,000 so the Reverend really cleaned up.
Burger King was another entity that kicked $50,000 to Citizenship and Jackson sided with that company in a dispute over minority ownership. And other big donors are to Jackson, who originally omitted on a CEF tax return, the New York Stock Exchange, $120,000, Bell Atlantic, $125,000, Ford Motor Company, $75,000, Jovan Broadcasting, $100,000. We're trying to find out what that's all about. And Arthur Anderson LLP $50,000. Again, all these concerns were omitted in Citizenship's original tax return. Jackson's financial officer says the mistake was simply an oversight.
The attorney general of Illinois, Jim Ryan, has received a copy of the amended return and continues to say Jackson has done nothing wrong. By the way, the latest figure paid to Jackson's mistress on that amended return, Karin Stanford, $67,249 in 1999 of tax-exempt money. Apparently that wasn't enough, because Ms. Stanford is now taking the Reverend to court for more dough.
Meantime, Jesse Jackson is trying to rally his troops. He recently finished a 25 city tour replete with speeches in front of selected audiences. He largely avoided the media. We'll have a report on his travels in just a few moments.
Talking Points continues to believe that Jackson's quid pro quo business deals violate the spirit of the non-profit law and that millions of dollars have not been specifically accounted for by him. It is obvious to all that the Reverend is corporate deal-maker, to use a polite term, who has made enormous mistakes on this tax filings. Why, then, is he not being audited?
The answer is fear.
The authorities continue to cower in the face of Jackson's power. No one in government wants to get on his wrong side. This, of course, means our government is selectively enforcing the law, which is unconstitutional. We'll continue to stay on the story. And later on this week we'll have an interesting report on Jesse Jackson's dealings in Africa.
And that's the memo.
Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
As you may know, Pardongate principal Denise Rich is making the media rounds, but so far avoiding The Factor. Denise, Denise, come on in here.
On a Barbara Walters broadcast, she denied ever having sex with Bill Clinton. Now, think about it. Isn't it a bit ridiculous that one of the main questions to Ms. Rich is whether she had sex with a former president? The Clinton legacy continues.
- You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points weeknights at 8 p.m. ET. And send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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