JACKSON'S MISTRESS: Affair scuttled White House bid

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Thursday August 16 3:40 PM ET

Jackson's Mistress: Affair Scuttled W.House Bid

By Michael Conlon

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The woman whose out-of-wedlock child was fathered by Jesse Jackson says the civil rights leader dropped a possible third run for the White House in 2000 partly because of the scandal, according to an interview to be aired on Friday.

Karin Stanford, a one-time aide in Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition Washington office, also said her relations with Jackson have become strained since she took him to court to firm up child support arrangements. Jackson, she said, has seen his now 2-year-old daughter only once in the past seven months.

Stanford was interviewed by ABC-TV's Connie Chung for a ''20/20'' segment that will be broadcast Friday at 10 p.m. EDT. The network said the program marked the first in-depth television interview that Stanford, who lives in Los Angeles, had granted since the scandal broke in January.

Jackson's press secretary could not be immediately reached for comment.

Stanford said she did not tell Jackson she was pregnant at first, in part because he was considering another run for the presidency in 2000 and ``I did not want my pregnancy to interfere with the possibility of a campaign.''

After Jackson found out about the baby, he dropped the idea, she said, according to a news release on the interview issued by the network on Thursday.

``I think he was concerned that because reporters were calling and asking about who the father of my baby was, his concern was that they would focus more on his personal life rather than his campaign platform,'' she said.

Stanford, 39, had a four-and-one-half year affair with Jackson. She was pregnant with the 59-year-old Baptist minister's child at the time Jackson was counseling former President Clinton (news - web sites) on his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, a liaison that ultimately led to Clinton's impeachment.

``I don't think it was hypocritical at all,'' Stanford said of Jackson's counsel to Clinton. ``Or disingenuous. I think that he could empathize with President Clinton, because he was in a similar situation. And who better to give you advice than someone who's walked in your shoes?''

Now, she said, she wants Jackson ``to be a father to Ashley. I want us to have very clear visitation, I guess guidelines.''

She said Jackson has seen the girl only once in seven months since she took him to court to formalize child support payments and other arrangements. She said he currently pays $4,000 a month in support, and their relationship has become strained since she went to court.

``He (Jackson) was born out of wedlock. ... He understands the hurt and the pain it causes,'' she said, adding that he did visit the child during her first 18 months of life.

``She knew he was Daddy,'' Stanford said. ``He was concerned about her just like any father would be. He checked on her, he came to visit her, he played with her.''

But she said she was shocked and insulted that Jackson's lawyers demanded she sign a confidentiality agreement during discussions about child support, and she refused.

Stanford had previously disclosed she was treated for breast cancer before the pregnancy. She said concern for the girl's financial future prompted her to go to court. She called the little girl a ``miracle child'' given the fact that doctors said earlier chemotherapy treatments would make her infertile.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

Answers

I really don't think there is any single reason why Jesse doesn't go further in a presidential bid. I have noticed now for many years that he "talks" big about it, but backs out, time after time. I think the talk is just to keep his name in the news and that he has never really intended to run for president.

We can only wonder how *many* skeletons are in his closet, the same as we can wonder about Como, who also talks big but then backs out.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001


You're probably right, Gordon. Jackson can make so much more money and has a great deal more freedom in his current role. Whatever that is.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2001

He can run, but he'll never win. In my opinion, of course.

I have actually run into a couple co-workers of his race who do not like him at all, much the same as I feel about Clinton and his ilk.

Don't you just love that word? ilk. LOL

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2001


Hi everyone. Been gone for a bit. Did anyone see the second segment about the Deep Brain Stimul. (DBS). The Neurologist shown on that segment is my wife. We have been waiting for almost half a year for this to show. Sadly, 20/20 forgot to mention that the DBS has been stalled in the FDA for over seven years. The results of DBS for advanced Parkinsons, type one Dystonia and certain forms of severe tremor have been absolutely astounding. In each case done at my wife's center the patients had either been in a nursing home or were on their way there. In each case after surgery they either left the nursing home and resumed normal living or were given a new lease on life. If any one is interested I would be happy to start another thread on this. For further reading check out the DBS website at www.medtronics.com.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

Damn, PA, I would have loved to have seen that segment! I don't watch much TV (unless the theme song goes, "Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do?") and miss a lot of interesting stuff if I'm not alerted. My neighbor has Parkinson's but it's not yet debilitating. I'll have a read of that site later--thanks for the link.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


PA, great to see you again. Yes, do give us more details on the procedure and how your wife is doing.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001

That was fast.

Online I have kept a low profile about my family. I feel safe here unlike other areas of the web.

My wife is finally being recognized as one of the leading movement disorders Neurologists in the "world". She is currently following about 2500 Parkinsons Disease patients (PD). Here in Pittsburgh (we live about 27 miles east in a rural town) and the surrounding region we have the most elderly population second arguably to Dade County.

PD has always been a problem here and in the past year we are seeing an alarming increase in young onset with patients showing up in their 20s and 30s. My wife is convinced and were presently working on funding for a study of the regional population that their are four variants of the disorder. Each varient or sub-Parkinsons class caused by a different but identifiable receptor in the brain.

There are many new drugs available and many more in the pipeline. These drugs during early phases of PD have been found to be neuro-protective. Secondly, the new classes of drugs have been found to extend the period of useful treatement of Levodopa or Sinemet for many years longer than previous average of eight. During discussions with the chief scientists of a few drug companies many more treatments are in the "FDA" pipeline (a very expensive and slow process).

In most areas I have avoided the arguments about stem cell research. I have numerous clinical reservations as does my wife who refers to the push for stem cell studies as "politically correct science". A couple of my own concerns sans the ethical problems are many.

First, PD does not show symtoms till after the death of about 70% of the dopamine brain receptors. Work is ongoing with Pet Scans but diagnostic tools are a long way off as is the question on the cost of screening.

Secondly, we found during my wifes Fellowship at the NIH that AIDS research was the politically correct field and money was directed to anything associated with this disease at the expense of things such as stroke, heart attack, breast cancer and on and on.

Finally, their are so many treatments available now or the very near future (and not 15 to 25 years as is the case with stem cell treatments) that offer real hope and improvements in the quality and quantity of life for PD patients.

I quess that was a bit of a rant. I think my wife will be at the ABC chat room soon. I don't have the link for it. I was going to ask her to bring home milk on the way from work. ;-) I've got to run. Will be back later tonight.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


"I feel safe here unlike other areas of the web." Yes, Git has done an amazing job preventing any meltdowns on this board.

Interesting comments about AIDs and stem cell research (well, yes, I figured as much about AIDs, just hadn't made the connection about the other).

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


The live chat link is at:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/chat/brainprobe_intro.html

sorry about my html regression.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001


Safe. Yes. I feel safe too. I'm very glad you all feel the same way. I hasten to add, though, that the admins on this board have been the biggest help in deciding who gets the password and who doesn't. We may not be as active or as exciting as some of the boards but we have interesting and useful stuff and we're not at risk of being stalked again.

PA, I fervently hope there's more than politics involved in stem cell research. The Israelis have done some neat stuff with stem cells and (in case you missed it the first time) I would SO like to have a banana split again before I die!

Back to the subject--what does your wife think about the theory that Parkinson's can be caused by herbicides? And does she have a theory as to why it's showing up in such young people?

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2001



OG

Just logged back on. Wife is on call and has hastened to bed for whatever hours of sleep she can get. I'm still waiting for Alltel to get back with our DSL service so I don't have to log off every time the phone and pager ring.

I am somewhat familiar with Parkinsons Disease (PD). I'm am on the board of directors of the Pittsburgh's American Parkinsons Disease Association (APDA) and have been doing my wife's stats for the past 15 years. I also do all of her slide work now (with our portable G3, Epson projector and PowerPoint).

Sadly there are alot of theories about the etiology of PD but few have been proven. There is a rare genetic variant and cluster cases of those exposed to maganese. There have also been epidimiological studies of patients who were all on the same aquifer source for well water. Short of these findings everything else remains just a theory.

Our findings from a study six years ago of 900 patients in the Pittsburgh area revealed some interesting results. The disease (maybe disorder) seems to have "European" origins with very few blacks represented in the entire patient population. The disease seems to cluster around people who live either in rural or urban areas. Very few were found in lower density towns or suburbs (as of yet). Male patients with maternal PD faired the worst of all. In PD there is a standard of measurement for disease progression called Hahn and Yahr (number one-sleep disturbances to number five-dementia). In the male patients with maternal PD the speed of the progression was alarming with rapid onset of dementia.

One of the surprises we found was that women who were on estrogen replacement therapy "not once" progressed to stage five of Hahn and Yahr. We initially pushed for further funding of estrogen therapy as well as combined drug treatments at my wife's center. Sadly, this was not deemed worthy for funding even though others followed up with confirmation of our findings at different centers.

The other findings were related to the occupations of the patients. The vast majority were either professionals or housewives. There was absolutely no correlation with steel workers (Pittsburgh) mine workers ( PA and West Virginia) or farmers (PA, WV and Ohio).

In short the herbicide question is still up in the air (no pun intended). As far as to why it is showing up in young people has us quite alarmed here in Pittsburgh. In our original study we had a few outliers but nothing like we are seeing today. We will be pushing for funding of a larger database (Sue's practice now includes in excess of 2500 PD patients) and aggressively seeking answers.

I do agree with Sue when she states that there must be at least four variants of the disease with different receptors involved. With the young onset patients we are seeing a great deal of Levodopa sensitivity which would indicate that a different version of PD is emerging and involving different brain receptors. This is just a theory now but I would feel comfortable backing it.

Overall the new drug therapies are very hopeful as well as the surgical options including DBS (if the FDA would get off of their butts and approve it!) for older patients.

OG. I'm sorry if I seemed insensitive on the stem cell question. I was speaking from the PD perspective. The best hopes for these patients for at least the next decade will be combination drug therapies with some surgical intervention.

My wife had been to Sweden seven years ago to observe the fetal tissue transplant program. Everyones hopes were high because of the media hype. Sadly the results can best be described as "Frankenstonian". There were deaths and alot of suffering in the end. From the perspective of PD patients I have watched the same progression in the stem cell debate. Stem cells should be researched but the promises need to be kept in perspective. If today a stem cell therapy was found effective the FDA process would still take years. I think it is immoral to raise peoples hopes for politcal gains. I hope for the best but am keeping a healthy distance from the proponent's claims.

For PD the importance now is an improved diagnostic program (PET Scans show the greatest promise). By the time outward symptoms are manifest for clinical diagnosis the patient already has lost aprox. 70 percent of their receptors. The current drugs have been found to be very neuroprotective delaying the progression of the disease for years. The secret for more effective treatment will be earlier diagnosis and treatiment with these drugs before the majority of existing receptors are lost. Simply, the earlier the treatment begins the better the longterm outcome for the patient. I will go out on the limb and say with early diagnosis we may be looking at a normal life for future PD patients (albeit with a lifetime of medication).

If I forgot in the past let me say now thanks for this "safe" forum. We are all news addicts. ;-) I have tried in the past to get my wife to post. She still just enjoys lurking and feeding her news "habit".

More later.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


Fascinating read, even though most of it went right over my head.

thanks for sharing and congrats to the Dr. for a great job.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


One of the surprises we found was that women who were on estrogen replacement therapy "not once" progressed to stage five of Hahn and Yahr.

That's good news! My 70+ year-old neighbor has been on HRT for years.

The vast majority were either professionals or housewives.

She's a professional housewife!

No, no, no--no apologies necessary from anyone here about stem cells. I understood you meant only re Parkinson's--just won't resist an opportunity to mention banana splits! I also understand lots of people have moral or religious qualms, no matter what the benefits of stem cells, and I don't fault them for that, either. And while I don't agree at all with cloning--humans or other creatures--I personally have no problem with infinitessimally tiny cell clusters being used to help those with chronic diseases--IF they can.

The issue of stem cells is one of those where people have pretty unshakeable views and neither side is likely to change. Hence, I don't think any of us should get into an intense discussion of it because we'll just end up being upset. We haven't so far and I don't think we will. If I see it happening, I'll step in. I like us all too much to risk our healthy "agree to disagree" mindset.

I think it's absolutely bloody wonderful that you two are involved in such important work and I think I might well speak for us all when I say that. Next time I have a drink, I'll drink to you both!

I usually do post anything I see related to Parkinson's and will keep a special eye out from now on.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


I didn't realize dementia was associated with Parkinson's. Another possible clue to my mother's situation.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Ok, Git, you got us into this mess. (I'm developing a crick in my neck.)

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


I'm hoping Git doesn't run out of special eyes.

Just how many does she have, anyway?

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


They're all shut at the moment, apparently.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

off

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Of course y'all are far too lazy to go into the admin side and fix the tag for me--you know, the way I do it for the rest of you whining ingrates, without saying a word and never asking for any thanks and just toiling away with no hope of any reward or expectation of any acknowledgement or a gold medal or anything.

So I slant the news occasionally, so what?

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001


;^)

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

Just tired of doing it that way. ;)

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001

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