Jackson’s Role Questioned in Boeing Case

Boeing Co. Chairman Philip Condit should be asked whether the company paid the Rev. Jesse Jackson to support a $15-million discrimination settlement, a lawyer says. The issue was raised by Alan Epstein of Philadelphia in a brief filed recently in U.S. District Court, part of his bid to overturn the settlement covering about 12,900 past and present black Boeing workers. Epstein wants to ask Condit in court whether Boeing paid Jackson $250,000 for his help in settling the lawsuit and whether Condit steered two multimillion-dollar consulting contracts to black-owned businesses that may have ties to Jackson’s Chicago-based Rainbow-PUSH Coalition. A hearing on the fairness of the deal and on Epstein’s bid to question Condit is scheduled Wednesday before Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle. In a reply brief, Boeing lawyers called Epstein’s objections “sour grapes.” On Saturday, Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said Epstein’s latest claims are “innuendoes based on hearsay and [have] no bearing on the fairness and reasonableness of the settlement.” Jackson’s press secretary, Jerry Thomas, said the civil rights leader had no comment.