Rep. Jesse Jackson resigned from Congress Wednesday, months after going on medical leave for treatment of bipolar depression.
A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says the office received a letter of resignation from Jackson but would not release any details.
Earlier, Jackson's brother Jonathan Jackson told the Chicago Tribune that he was going to resign "momentarily."
The congressman could not be reached.
News of the resignation on the eve of Thanksgiving, when Congress was not meeting and many Washingtonians were traveling, seemed to take even Jackson staffers by surprise.
His press secretary, Frank Watkins, said Wednesday morning that he didn’t know anything about a possible resignation. Watkins attributed the rumors to press speculation.
Watkins said that, late Tuesday afternoon when he left a movie, he learned from another staffer that Jackson had been planning a conference call with his staff. The call was to be held Wednesday but was canceled and did not take place, according to Watkins, who said he is on vacation.
Watkins refused to name the staffer who alerted him to the conference call.
Jackson, 47, a South Side Democrat, has been treated for bipolar depression and has been on a medical leave from Congress since June. He has been under investigation by federal authorities for alleged misuse of campaign dollars and also has faced a congressional ethics probe.
Although he did not wage a campaign, Jackson won re-election on Nov. 6 to another two-year term in the House by defeating a Republican and independent challenger. Under Illinois law, Gov. Pat Quinn, a fellow Democrat, would call a special election to fill Jackson’s 2nd District congressional seat, which extends from Chicago’s South Side to Kankakee.
He is the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, and the husband of Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson, 7th.
Rep. Jackson has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for alleged improprieties related to his bid to win appointment in 2008 to the Senate seat that had been held by President Barack Obama. A Jackson emissary is alleged to have offered to raise up to $6 million in campaign funds for disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for the governor appointing Jackson to the Senate seat.
Blagojevich is serving a prison term for corruption convictions including trying to sell or trade the Senate seat.
After the March primary election, the congressman’s aides belatedly announced his medical leave, which at first was blamed on “exhaustion.”
Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from Congress
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Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from Congress
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Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from Congress
