Clay Jackson, right, with his attorney, Donald Heller, in 1994 outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)
Clay Jackson was once the most powerful lobbyist in Sacramento, representing the insurance industry and overseeing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to politicians. His firm billed $2 million annually. But Jackson, along with 11 others, was caught in the FBI’s undercover corruption investigation of the state Capitol and wound up going to federal prison. The probe came to light in August 1988 following the FBI’s nighttime raid on the Capitol. The fallout of that investigation, one of the darkest episodes in the Capitol’s history, continued for years.
Here we present a two-part interview with Clay Jackson, once one of Sacramento’s most powerful lobbyists until he was convicted of federal political corruption charges and served more than five years in prison. He was interviewed by Sigrid Bathen, a journalist and lecturer at California State University, Sacramento
Clay Jackson, Part 1: Holding off the Future from Capitol Weekly on Vimeo.
Full transcript of Holding off the Future here
Clay Jackson, Part II: The Fall and After from Capitol Weekly on Vimeo.
Full transcript of After the Fall here.
For more information:
Sigrid Bathen’s 1995 interview, “Clay Jackson in Prison,” originally published in California Journal, is here.
