title: JESSE JACKSON STYLE SHAKEDOWN: NAACP President Caught Selling Endorsements For Political Candidates
text: Making a political endorsement by the NAACP completely irrelevant You d think in order to get an endorsement from the NAACP or its members that you d have to demonstrate loyalty and allegiance to black causes, but you d be wrong. All it takes is some cold hard cash. An NAACP chapter president is offering up political endorsements from a Political Action Committee he represents in exchange for a fat stack of Ben Franklins.Hezekiah Jackson is the Birmingham, AL NAACP chapter president. He is also the co-chair of Team Seven, a powerful local PAC whose endorsements promise to deliver votes from the black community. Team Seven is hosting a banquet on February 4 for local candidates to connect with voters. Of course this banquet is not free to the candidates, but there s something even dirtier about it.I know that I wrote in my headline that Jackson was busted for selling endorsements, which implies he was sneaking around and got caught. In actuality, he was flaunting this pay-off scheme and didn t care who noticed. According to AL.com, Jackson sent the following e-mail to candidates he hoped would slide a little money his way. It s basically a list of how much things cost and what you get for it:1. Deadline to submit payment is Friday, January 23, 2016 to me (Jackson) or Pastor Webb (Ad committee co-chair Gwen Webb).2. Candidates purchasing an ad ($500) will have two minutes to speak.3. Candidates purchasing a table ($500) will have two minutes to speak.4. Candidates purchasing a combo (ad   $250 and table for eight   $500 = $750) will have three minutes to speak.Pay close attention to the next one:5. Candidates who do not purchase an ad nor a table WILL NOT be considered for endorsement.Did you get that? The candidates either pay up or they won t even be considered for an endorsement from Jackson s PAC. No matter how you look at it, that s unethical as hell and probably illegal. Political Action Committees are bound by certain laws and I d like to believe shaking down politicians for endorsements is a big no-no.This is a classic Al Sharpton race-hustling scheme. You want an endorsement? You want to be absolved of offending the black community? You want to avoid bad press and a boycott? Just pay some tribute to the good Reverend and he ll handle everything. Some may see this as extortion, but to Sharpton it s just black activism. Via: DownTrend