Altruistic former congressman beseeches Obama-the-Merciful to pardon millions of ex-inmates (including a certain former congressman)

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**Written by Doug Powers

It’s pretty hard to beat this Chicago Tribune headline for summing up the story:

What a totally selfless request:

sse Jackson Jr. is calling on President Barack Obama to issue a mass pardon of former prison inmates who have completed their sentences — a group that would include both Jackson and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson.

In an emotional and rambling Facebook post he made at 4 a.m. Thursday, Jackson wrote that “the great 2016 pardoning of the masses will create a resounding echo in history and will mark you as the greatest Christian president ever to serve.”
[…]
Jackson, who has been treated for bipolar disorder, was convicted in 2013 of violating federal campaign law by using campaign funds to make personal purchases, including a fedora that once belonged to Michael Jackson and cashmere capes. He served more than a year behind bars before he was released into a halfway house in 2015, while his wife completed her sentence in the same case in October. Though Jackson doesn’t make a direct appeal for his own pardon, any blanket pardon of former inmates would, by definition, include him and his wife.

Jackson Jr. should sit tight — I’m sure Obama will get to him eventually.

**Written by Doug Powers

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