How Jesse Jackson puts family first; exciting book digs behind the scenes to reveal how the Rev. Jesse Jackson turned the screws to put his sons in positions of influence and to launch a family dynasty

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 1, 2002 | by Kenneth R. Timmerman

Anheuser-Busch spokesman Carlos Ramirez brushes off reporters' questions. "What's your thesis?" he asks after I fax questions regarding the sale. Unsure I'm hearing him correctly, I ask him to repeat himself. "What's your thesis? Your angle? What's the point of this story?" I reply that it is an inquiry that could potentially be of interest to Anheuser-Busch shareholders. They might want to know how their money had been spent. He promises to get back to me.

Three hours later, he phones back. "We've researched your request and we don't want to participate in your project," Ramirez says. "No one is available to talk to you." He refused to respond to questions regarding the price the Jackson brothers had paid for River North, or whether Anheuser-Busch had subsidized the sale or written down assets on its books. "We choose not to discuss this information," he said. When I object that Anheuser-Busch shareholders had a right to know the answers, he hangs up.

Ramirez had asked an identical question when confronted by Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, who deadpanned his reply in print. "I've been insulted in many creative ways, by mayors, aldermen, criminals, clowns, jokers and other elected officials," Kass wrote. "Readers have had plenty to say, too. But I have never, ever, been asked to display my thesis. Never. You don't show your thesis to strangers. Only a weirdo would ask such a thing. If the Anheuser-Busch guy wasn't on the other end of a phone, long distance, I might have thought about slugging him." Neither Ramirez nor his bosses seemed to have read the Kass column or, if they did, they didn't care what the public thought.

Ron Burkle and August Busch IV weren't done with their favors to Jesse and sons. In the year 2000, they bankrolled Yusef Jackson's Internet venture OneNetNow.com, a Website he claimed would "bring more minorities" to the Internet. Paying the bills was Burkle's investment firm, the Yucaipa Companies in Los Angeles. When the Internet bubble burst later that year, OneNetNow.com went bankrupt. Ron Burkle shrugged it off. "I'm a friend of the family," he told reporters. "Family" apparently included Jesse Jackson's mistress, Karin Stanford, hired by Yucaipa on a $10,000 per month retainer in January 2001, only days after her illicit relationship and love child with Jackson were exposed in the tabloids. Burkle was already in the know, but had kept his knowledge to himself. In December 1999, when Jackson's mistress was seeking a new home for herself and her baby, Burkle sent her to Kaufman and Broad Mortgage Company to get a loan. A quick call from board member Burkle convinced Kaufman and Broad to lend her $291,950 to buy a $365,000 house on Don Miguel Drive in Los Angeles.

Jesse Pleads for Noah

In April 1996, Jackson paid a visit to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel. Zagel had helped crack the El Rukn drug rings back in the 1980s as chief of the Illinois State Police. In chambers, Jackson asked the judge to allow half-brother Noah Robinson to go free on bail.