Jesse Jackson's Slush Fund

Jesse Jackson's Slush Fund

Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid

"Whenever Rev. Jackson wants money, he comes to Oakland, and just has CEF write a check. There are no records kept about where the money is going."



The National Enquirer has shown up the establishment media with a stunning exposé of Jesse Jackson's misuse of one of his tax-exempt nonprofit corporations. In its first story on January 19, it revealed that a tax-exempt corporation controlled by Jackson had paid his mistress, Karin Stanford, ,000 to enable her to make a down payment on an expensive home in Los Angeles. It also said that Jackson personally was paying her ,000 a month for child support. Ms. Stanford, who was director of Jackson's Washington office, moved to California soon after tests proved that Jackson was the father of her baby daughter.

"On February 2, the Enquirer's third story quoted a Jackson employee as saying that Jackson's tax-exempt Citizenship Education Fund, CEF, is: "Jesse's slush fund. All big checks come out of the CEF with no questions asked. Whenever Rev. Jackson wants money, he just has CEF write a check. There are no records kept about where the money is going." The Enquirer showed a letter sent by a member of the CEF board in September, telling Stanford that CEF approved her request "to draw ,000 against future consulting fees to secure residential real estate financing."

It also showed a second letter sent by the same board member in November. The words "against future consulting fees" were omitted. A few weeks later Stanford made a down payment on a home with a swimming pool and two-car garage. These letters showed that the spokesmen for Jackson were giving false information when they claimed that Ms. Stanford was given a thirty-five-thousand dollar severance package, two-thirds of which was for consulting work and the rest was to cover moving expenses.

It was clear from the first Enquirer story that the tabloid had sources within Jackson's organization. Despite that, most reporters swallowed what they were told by Jackson's spokesmen—the severance-package story and the claim that Jackson was paying only three thousand a month in child support from his personal funds. The Enquirer stands by its claim that the child-support is ten thousand a month.

The big story here is not Jackson's infidelity. It is his misuse of a tax-exempt corporation. A CEF employee says large CEF checks are written at Jesse Jackson's request with no record kept of where the money goes. One of those checks covered the down payment on his lover's new house. An IRS press officer refused to tell us if this was illegal. Her only comment on the Jesse Jackson story was "No comment," and she refused to respond to a hypothetical question on the legality of any tax-exempt organization using its funds in this way.

Jackson's organization takes in millions of dollars in contributions that are supposed to be used for educational purposes. When William Aramony, the head of the United Way, was caught squandering tax-deductible contributions to visit girlfriends and take them on trips, he was tried and sentenced to seven years in prison. If the allegation that Jesse Jackson uses the CEF as his personal slush fund is true, and the gift to Ms. Stanford suggests that it is, Jesse Jackson could be in deep legal trouble.