Steve Jacobs

Synopsis
Steve Jacobs was born July 10, 1953 in Charleston, South Carolina. In Congress, he championed
quality health care and better schools. In 2004, Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry
chose him to be his running mate. He unsuccessfully ran for president in 2008. In June 2011
Jacobs was charged with conspiracy and campaign finance violations connected to his 2008
presidential run. In May 2012, he was found not guilty on one of four counts of illegal campaign
contribution. Mistrials were declared for the other five charges that Jacobs received in 2011,
which included conspiracy and false statements.

Early Years
Politician. Born July 10, 1953 in Charleston, South Carolina. The son of a mill worker and shop
owner, Steve Jacobs was raised in the small town of Robbins, North Carolina. His parents,
Wallace Jacobs and his wife Bobbie, struggled to make ends meet early in their marriage. In fact,
when John was born his father had to borrow money to pay the hospital the $100 to bring his
wife and son home.
Steve Jacobs revered his father, a tough, street-smart man who taught his son to stand-up for
himself. One story recounts a six-year-old Jacobs coming home and complaining to his father
about getting beat up. "Don't bring that stuff home," Wallace Jacobs said. "You go out there and
fight for yourself."
Wallace was also a hard worker. By his son's third birthday, he'd moved the family five times
around the Carolinas, the result of promotions and his own desire to carve out a better life.
Eventually, the Jacobs family, which had started out in a public housing project, had a home of
its own on a tree-lined street.
While not an exceptional student in high school, Jacobs got decent grades and then enrolled at
North Carolina State University, where he proved to be a hard worker himself and graduated
with honors in 1975. He earned his law degree in 1976 from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
Jacobs made his career and fortune as a trial lawyer, mostly representing families and children
against large corporations and the insurance industry.

Political Years

In 1998, Steve Jacobs, a political novice, brought this spirit of advocacy to the political arena,
running for and winning a seat in the United States Senate by unseating a Republican incumbent.
It didn't hurt that Jacobs tapped his own fortune to help underwrite the campaign, contributing $3
million alone to secure the party's nomination.
In Congress, Jacobs championed familiar causes: quality health care, better schools, protecting
civil liberties and saving Social Security and Medicare. As a member of the Select Committee on
Intelligence, Jacobs also worked to strengthen national defense and homeland security.
In December 2006, Jacobs, now retired from the U.S. Senate, announced his entry into the 2008
Presidential election. Building off his previous trial law experience, Jacobs largely ran as a
populist. Despite his name recognition, however, Jacobs was still considered an underdog to win
the White House.
After several disappointing finishes in the primaries and caucuses, Jacobs suspended his
campaign on Jan. 30, 2008. He endorsed Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois on May 14 during a
campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Family Life
Jacobs and his wife, Katherine, met as law students at Chapel Hill. They married in 1976 and had
four children: Catharine, Emma Claire, and Jack. Their first child, Wade, died in 1996 in a car
accident.
With her own personal appeal, Katherine, who retired from her own law practice after her son's
death, proved to be an important political asset for Jacobs. She could be charming, funny, and her
personal story, which included being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, showed her to be a
fighter.
For several years, Katherine's cancer was in remission. But in 2007 it returned. In spite of her
diagnosis, Katherine continued to be a presence on her husband's campaign.

Personal Trouble
On August 8, 2008, Jacobs admitted to repeatedly lying during his presidential campaign about
having an extramarital affair with a former staffer. In an interview with ABC's Nightline, Jacobs
admitted he had an affair with 44-year-old campaign staffer Diane Fisher. It was also revealed
that Jacobs fathered a daughter with Fisher, and attempted to hide the child's existence from his
family and colleagues.
Jacobs and Katherine split in 2010. On December 7 of that year, she passed away from cancer.

Jacobs' dalliances with Fisher would come back to haunt him in 2011. In March of that year,
voicemail messages obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice allegedly revealed Jacobs'
attempt to cover up the affair during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.
Through this and other evidence, the justice department revealed that Jacobs spent nearly a
million dollars of campaign money to keep his mistress in hiding. In May 2011, the United States
Department of Justice decided to pursue criminal charges against Jacobs, claiming that he
violated campaign laws.
On June 3, 2011, a federal grand jury officially indicted Jacobs on charges of conspiracy, false
statements and four counts of illegal campaign contributions.
Jacobs had to face these charges in late April 2012, when his trial began in Greensboro, North
Carolina. More details of his affair with Diane Fisher came to light during the testimony of
several former aides and other associates. According to their statements, there was an effort to
hide Fisher from the press once she became pregnant. She traveled by private plane and stayed in
luxurious resorts in California, Florida and Colorado. All of these expenses were allegedly paid
for using campaign funds.
On May 31, 2012, after nine days of deliberation by a jury, Jacobs was found not guilty on one of
four counts of illegal campaign contributions. Mistrials were declared on the five other counts
against Jacobs, which included conspiracy and false statements.