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Jesse Jackson's New Staff Member Mel Reynolds Jessie Jackson has added former Chicago Democrat Congressman Mel Reynolds to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton's last-minute forgiveness spree. Reynolds received a commutation of his six-and-a-half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer. This is a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate... won clemency from a president who had sex with a...

Chicago Police have told former congressman Mel Reynolds, a convicted sex offender, to move from his South Side home because he is living too close to a school. Reynolds has been living in the 11800 block of South Indiana for several years. Last month, he went to Chicago Police headquarters to register as a sex offender, as he is required to do annually. He was told he had to move because he was living within 500 feet of a school. Salem Christian Academy is across the street from Reynolds' home. Reynolds is raising his three children there, and for a...

The Reynolds story... November 24, 2004 BY MICHAEL SNEED SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds was reportedly a personal guest of former President Bill Clinton at the dedication of his library in Little Rock, Ark., last week. *Background: During his final hours in office, Clinton commuted the jail sentence of Reynolds, who served 2-1/2 years in federal prison on charges of corruption and having sex with an underage girl. Reynolds petitioned for clemency so he could be reunited with his children, who he felt needed him desperately. Clinton concurred. *Foreground: Reynolds was accompanied by his son and namesake, 11-year...

The former congressman heads down 79th Street just east of Jeffery, wearing a baseball cap from his college alma mater and flashing the gap-toothed grin that first charmed voters more than a decade ago. Back then, former Rep. Mel Reynolds was a rising Democratic star and congressman from the 2nd District, which es-covers much of the South Side and south suburbs. That was before 1995, when a sexual misconduct conviction stemming from an affair with an underage campaign worker sent him to prison and destroyed his political career. On a recent Monday morning, most remember the face, even if they...

Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior is under fire again from longtime political rival William Shaw. Shaw wants Jackson left off the March primary ballot because Jackson used homeless people to gather questionable signatures for his petition. The state board hearing officer said he will recommend Shaw's complaint be dismissed so that Jackson's name will appear on the primary ballot. Shaw, an attorney argued that because of irregularities in his nominating petitions, Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior should be thrown off the March primary ballot. " The remedy for noncompliance is in the statute. It's the only remedy that's in the statute," said...

December 11, 2003 — Mel Reynolds returns to politics after nearly a decade in exile. He resigned from congress after his conviction on sex charges. Thursday -- he announced his plans to reclaim his seat in the House of Representatives Mel Reynolds admits he made mistakes and paid the price. But he claims to have been a better congressman than the man who replaced him, Jesse Jackson Junior. As he displays a staggering number of signatures on his nominating petitions, indicating the race is for real, Reynolds is asking the media to be as tough on Jackson as they've been...

MIDI - ABRAHAM, MARTIN, AND JOHN Has anybody here seen the pervert, Scotty...has he been at Burger King He chased those little girls...he's a stalker on the internet He hoped they would watch him do his thing Has anybody here seen the perv, Mel Reynolds...he had hit the Lotto big He'd have two underage babes...he would be in ecstasy Instead, he went to jail...what a pig Has anybody here seen the pervert, Michael...have you been to Neverland This time he will face charges...and cannot buy his way out Justice, so long delayed, is at hand What should be done...

<p>CHICAGO -- Back in 1992, when Chicago Democrat Mel Reynolds was elected to Congress, there was no telling how high he would climb.</p> <p>He had escaped Chicago's public housing to study at Harvard and Oxford and, on his third try, ousted a longtime congressman from Chicago's South Side and southern suburbs. He became a darling of local Democrats, made his presence known on Capitol Hill with an appointment to the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and was even invited to jog with President Clinton.</p>

October 9, 2003--Mayor Daley doesn't normally take sides in contested Democratic primaries, but he made an exception Wednesday for Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Chicago), prompting an angry response from former mayoral ally Mel Reynolds. Reynolds, the felon trying to make a political comeback at Jackson's expense, argued that he -- not Jackson -- has earned the mayor's powerful endorsement. "I took an awful lot of heat in the late 1980s and early '90s because I would not come out and condemn Mayor Daley. There were those on the South Side calling him a racist, and some of that was coming...

The rumors persisted last week. And then on Tuesday, it became official. Mel Reynolds is running for Congress — again. Mel Reynolds, a real blast from the past if there ever was one. With the garbage haulers' strike still on, I thought perhaps the phrase should be "trash from the past." Mel Reynolds, running for Congress. Why? A bit of background for those new to our suburbs, those who are forgetful, or those who are overly forgiving: It was Mel Reynolds who, after redistricting in 1990, knocked off longtime congressman Gus Savage in the 2nd District Democratic primary of 1992....

Jesse Jackson has added former Chicago Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds to Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s payroll. Reynolds was among the 176 criminals excused in President Clinton’s last-minute forgiveness spree. He received commutation of his six-and-a half-year federal sentence for 15 convictions of wire fraud, bank fraud and lies to the Federal Election Commission. He is more notorious, however, for concurrently serving five years for sleeping with an underage campaign volunteer. This is a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate, won clemency from a president who had sex with a subordinate, then was hired by a clergyman...

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For the past 10 months, convicted former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds and his estranged wife, Marisol, have shared a South Side apartment on weekends. But they have not had sex in eight years. He yells at her in front of their three children, calling her "fat" and "slut," she said. She calls him names, too, like "pedophile," he said. She feared for her safety so much Sunday that she called police to the home. On Tuesday, a Cook County judge came down on Marisol Reynolds' side, saying she was a credible witness when testifying about Mel Reynolds' alleged mental abuse....

In light of the media's fascination with sex scandals in the Catholic clergy, it's worth noting that many of them virtually ignore other cases of pedophilia. Hardly anyone made a fuss about the disgraced Bill Clinton's pardon of disgraced former Rep. Mel "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" Reynolds, D-Ill., a crony of Jesse Jackson. And there have been countless cases of teachers in government schools sexually exploiting the children they are supposed to teach, but the media don't show much interest here either. To understand the double standard, just look at the media establishment's agenda: government schools good (no matter...