She was just his voice

The latest shady Dem entrant to the Illinois Senate race, Illinois Urban league head Cheryle Jackson, claims as our impeached Gov. Blago's deputy chief of staff she had nothing to do with a questionable deal. Sun Times:

But a series of previously undisclosed e-mails between Blagojevich staffers call that assertion into question. The e-mails were flying as the then-governor's staff scrambled to fulfill his promise to give $1million in state aid to Pilgrim Baptist Church, a Bronzeville landmark destroyed by fire.

Blagojevich's promise, made with TV cameras rolling in January 2006 as he was seeking re-election, blew up in his face last year when the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that the money intended for the church went instead to a clout-heavy private school, the Loop Lab School, that had rented space from the church in a building next to its sanctuary at 3300 S. Indiana.

Jackson no longer was on Blagojevich's staff at the time the story was published March 3, 2008. But Blagojevich aides discussed her involvement in the matter in e-mails retrieved by Illinois Auditor General William Holland and reviewed by the Sun-Times.

"Cheryle Jackson ... indicated that Loop Lab School -- an entity that leased space from the Church -- would be the actual recipient" of the money, then-Blagojevich deputy chief of staff Kristin Richards wrote that same day.

That $1 million is still outstanding with nothing to show for it--the church doesn't have it (of course that raises a whole other issue) and the school has not re-opened after a fire destroyed the church. Jackson claims she was just Blago's "voice" and takes no responsibility. How reassuring.

Seriously, how can anyone expect Ms. Jackson to be a voice of the people of Illinois in the U.S. Senate?