WASHINGTON — Former Illinois congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Wednesday for using $750,000 in campaign money for living expenses, trips and luxury goods — a stunning fall for a once-rising political star from a famous family.

Jackson and his wife, Sandi Jackson, treated campaign funds as a “personal piggy bank,” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told the Democrat, who represented Chicago’s South Side for 17 years. “There may be gray areas in campaign finance. This case did not come near to those areas.

“As a public official, you are supposed to live up to a higher standard of ethics and integrity,” said the judge, who is no relation to the former congressman.

Sandi Jackson received a one-year prison term.

During an emotional hearing, both Jacksons tearfully admitted wrongdoing and begged the judge to consider the damage prison terms would inflict on their children, ages 13 and 9.

“I take responsibility for my actions,” Jesse Jackson Jr. said, sobbing openly in court as his family looked on. “I misled the American people.”

Both Jacksons received shorter prison terms than recommended by federal prosecutors, who sought to imprison him for four years and his wife for 18 months. Jesse Jackson Jr. could have several months shaved off his sentence for good behavior.

“No one is celebrating today,” his lawyer Reid Weingarten said. “The fall from grace is complete.”

Jackson, 48, is the son of civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

The senior Jackson, who joined other family members in the courtroom Wednesday, said that his son’s bipolar disorder had taken an enormous toll. “A year ago, I thought we might have lost him,” Jackson told reporters after the sentencing. “He is still recovering.”

The sentencing ends a chapter in a years-long federal probe into the conduct of Jackson, who pleaded guilty in February to misusing campaign funds.

Court filings show Jackson used donors’ money as his own, spending lavishly on luxury goods and services, including a $43,350 gold-plated men’s Rolex watch, $5,687 for a “holistic retreat” in Martha’s Vineyard and more than $5,000 on capes and fur parkas. He also used campaign funds for more commonplace expenses, such as dry cleaning and toothpaste purchased from Costco.

In court, Jackson’s lawyers sought to tie his crimes to his mental condition. Weingarten called him a “good person” whose judgment was impaired by his bipolar disorder. He asked for leniency. “There are not widows and orphans surrounding the courthouse wanting his head.”

Weingarten noted that lawmakers in the 1980s were permitted to use campaign money for personal expenses. “If you took a microscope and looked at all these campaign (reports), you would find a lot of gray,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said the case “strikes at the integrity of the campaign-finance system” and deserved punishment

Prosecutors and the judge also questioned how big a role Jackson’s mental health issues played in the theft of campaign funds that lasted for several years. The couple routinely used donors’ money to supplement their income in ways that “can’t be chalked up to a periodic loss of control,” said Jackson, the federal judge.

STORY: Report: Jesse Jackson Jr. reaches plea agreement

Sandi Jackson, a former Chicago alderman, pleaded guilty to falsifying to the couple’s tax returns over a six-year period. Her lawyers sought to spare her prison time, saying she needed to care for her children. “Give me her time,” Jesse Jackson Jr. implored.

“My heart breaks every day with the pain it has caused my babies,” Sandi Jackson said in court, her voice breaking.

“It’s not the government that put your children in this position,” the judge dryly told Sandi Jackson before ordering her to prison.

Graves, the prosecutor, said Sandi Jackson was not an unwitting accomplice to her husband’s crimes. “The facts show that she stole and that she stole a lot of money,” he said.

Sandi Jackson used a credit card tied to her husband’s campaign to pay for $171,000 in personal goods, Graves said. He ticked off a string of expenses funded with donors’ contributions, including a Sub-Zero refrigerator, school fees and a trip to Walt Disney World.

The judge agreed to stagger the sentences to allow one parent to remain home with the children. Jesse Jackson Jr. will serve his time first and must report to authorities in November. Sandi Jackson will begin serving her sentence a month after her husband is released.

Jackson Jr. was first elected to Congress in a 1995 special election to replace Mel Reynolds, a Democrat who resigned after he was convicted of having sex with a teenage campaign worker.

Jackson won re-election by a wide margin last November, despite the federal investigation and his absence from both his congressional job and the campaign trail. Jackson had been on extended medical leave. He resigned from Congress several weeks after Election Day.

 

The judge recommended assigning the former congressman to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Montgomery, Ala., or a low-security facility near Raleigh, N.C. The Bureau of Prisons makes the final decision.

The case doesn’t end with Wednesday’s sentencing. Jackson still must pay $750,000 to the government. Sandi Jackson was order to pay $22,000 in restitution. That’s money she took from her campaign account as a Chicago alderman and used to buy shoes, a visit to a Las Vegas spa and other personal expenses, the judge said.

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