"An Informant By Any Other Name"

Amid circumstances that can aptly be described as confused and contorted, yet another surprising twist has emerged. Yesterday, as the Blagojevich Brouhaha continued to serve as spectacle, and unfold before Illinoisans, the Nation, and the World, a U.S. Representative was reported to have been cooperating with authorities…for years; more than a decade by some accounts.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. has been under fire recently. Many believe allegations that Jackson’s representatives met with the Governor and offered him up to a $million to appoint the Congressman to President-elect Obama’s vacant Senate seat. This highly publicized pay-to-play scheme, focused on the Governor, has dominated much of the news for more than a week now.

The ensuing fallout has had numerous repercussions that include creating a dark cloud formed by a series of allegations of Chicago-style dirty politics, slowing the Senate seat selection process, fostering calls for the Governor's resignation, causing others to urge Jackson to remove himself from consideration for the appointment, and of course, prompting assertions that all of this somehow involves and taints Obama.

Reflecting upon the greed fueled wretched excesses of Blagojevich, I am reminded of the deft phrasing of Scottish novelist, poet, and historian Sir Walter Scott, when he wrote the lines, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive.” But when I think of the modern history of the Illinois Governorship, a legacy that includes jail time for three Governors or former Governors in the past 35 years, including Blagojevich’s predecessor, I am more attuned to the comedic stylings of Stanley Laurel, and Oliver Hardy. Can’t you almost hear Stan’s artfully constructed, “What a fine mess you have gotten us into this time, Ollie," playing in the background of the proceedings?

In examining the most recent developments, I was struck by the delicate nature of this revelation. On the one hand, under fire, and for several days making it pointedly clear that he determined to make every effort to clear his good name, Jackson was clearly between a rock and a hard place. Only one day earlier, President-elect Obama opted not to release full and complete information about the case, publicly citing a request by Special Prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald. Now, only a day later, Jackson appears to spill at least part of the beans.

Let’s be clear here. By all accounts, Governor Rod Blagojevich is at the center of this controversy, and is the prime target of the investigation. With that in mind, I certainly have no desire to create any kind of “Blame the victim” energy for Jackson, whom by all accounts is not a target of the investigation. But let’s face it; Americans have a healthy dose of cynicism toward “informants.”

Not true, you say! Want me to prove it? Fair enough; let’s make this quick and simple. I went to http://dictionary.com on the web, and typed in informant. When I hit enter, under the Thesaurus heading, guess what came up. According to this resource, and I know this is only one source, there were eleven synonyms for the main entry, informant. Here are the top ten, in order they appeared:
Canary
Fink
Informer
Nark
Rat
Sneak
Snitch
Source
Stoolie
Tattletale

Get the point? Jackson certainly did. He quickly tried to distance himself from the term, both personally, and through a spokesperson. In a CNN wire service story, Jackson is said to have rejected being labeled with the term “informant” in a message to CNN contributor Roland Martin.

Furthermore, a Jackson Spokesman, Kenneth Edmonds (no, not Babyface, y’all) characterized Jackson’s actions with federal authorities this way: “As a responsible citizen and elected official, Congressman Jackson has in the past provided information to federal authorities regarding his personal knowledge of perceived corruption and government misconduct.

This was completely unrelated to the current investigation regarding the U.S. Senate appointment. And it is absolutely inaccurate to describe the congressman as an informant.”

Edmonds went on to say, Jackson has provided information about Blagojevich previously, though not in the current case.

OK, you have now read what Congressman Jackson and his spokesman, Mr. Edmonds have to say on the issue of informants. What is clear as a sunlit sky over the ocean is, every time the word informant is typed, read, uttered, or even thought, in connection with Jesse, Jr., his erstwhile street cred is dropping faster than a portfolio filled with Wachovia stock. I don’t know whether you should call the Congressman a collaborator, a whistle blower, an information specialist, or just a genuinely nice guy…who wants his good name back, and would like to be the Junior Senator from Illinois. What I do know is, “Informant by Any Other Name,” commonly used, will smell as putrid. I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.

For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below.


http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/informant

http://www.npr.org/blogs/newsandviews/2008/12/abc_news_jesse_jackson_jr_is_s.html

http://www.africanamericanpoliticalpundit.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=413

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/16/blagojevich/index.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/17/rod-blagojevich-jesse-jackson-jr-illinois

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/16/jesse-jackson-jr-may-have_n_151514.html

http://www.huliq.com/2623/74607/jesse-jackson-jr-identified-informant-blagojevich-probe

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/16/breaking-jackson-jr-an-informant-to-us-attorney-investigation/

http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/16/jesse-jackson-junior-reportedly-informant-for-more-than-a-decade/

http://www.bad-news-day.com/us-representative-jesse-jackson-jr-reportedly-was-informant-for-federal-investigators