A congressional ethics panel is looking into possible violations by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. during his attempt to acquire Barack Obama’s then-vacant seat in the U.S. Senate. Jackson and others had courted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, hoping to be granted the slot. Blagojevich has since been booted from the governor’s chair after being charged with trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. Late last month, the Office of Congressional  Ethics voted to investigate Jackson, who is being required to relinquish a number of documents, e-mails and other correspondence from Blagojevich’s gubernatorial and campaign staff regarding Jackson, Jackson’s brother Jonathan and his campaign staff, the Sun-Times reported. Jackson, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, is the son of civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. In its criminal complaint against Blagojevich, the government listed a mysterious “Senate Candidate A” as one of several candidates that authorities say the former governor considered for the seat now held by Roland Burris. Jackson’s supporters were willing to raise $1.5 million for Blagojevich if he picked the congressman, the complaint said.

Rep. Jesse Jackson told the feds about Illinois’ governor. Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been a government informant, spilling the beans on Illinois’ embattled governor and other miscreant politicians for years, The New York Post reported Tuesday. The newspaper said that a Jackson spokesman, Kenneth Edmonds, acknowledged that Jackson had spoken to the feds about Gov. Rod Blagojevich and others. Blagojevich is now under investigation for allegedly trying to sell Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. Chicago’s WLS-TV reported that Jackson Jr., the son of the famed civil rights leader of the same name, told investigators Blagojevich refused to make Jackson’s wife director of the state lottery because Jackson would not pledge $25,000 to the governor’s campaign fund. “Blagojevich went out of his way to say, ‘You know I was considering your wife for the lottery job and the $25,000 you didn’t give me? That’s why she’s not getting the job,’” a source told The Associated Press. Jackson doesn’t deny meeting with Blagojevich about his interest in Obama’s Senate seat one day before the governor was arrested on federal corruption charges.

Rep. Jackson denies involvement in Illinois Senate seat scandal. Federal authorities confirmed on Wednesday that U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was the “Candidate Five” to which Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich implied in a taped conversation was willing to pay to get appointed to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. In the indictment, the governor said a representative for “candidate #5″ was willing to raise $500,000 for his campaign and $1 million if he was appointed to the coveted Senate seat. However, Jackson, in a Wednesday news conference, strongly denied he had promised anything to the governor in secure the seat. Read the rest here.