LA-02: Probe-Target Jefferson Wins Reelection
Yes, it is possible to be reelected to Congress while being targeted by a Federal bribery probe. Rep. William Jefferson proved that yesterday, easily winning reelection in yesterday's runoff against fellow Dem Karen Carter. The Associated Press has called the race for Jefferson, reporting that with 44 percent of precincts in, Jefferson leads Carter by a lopsided 61%-39%.
From the Associated Press:
Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson's freezer...The scandal turned the race into a debate largely divided along racial lines, an age-old dynamic in this city that has intensified since Hurricane Katrina displaced large numbers of blacks and upended their demographic and political dominance.
Whites, who overwhelmingly voted for Carter in the primary and have been her most enthusiastic financial backers, believed a Jefferson win would confirm this city's image as corrupt and untrustworthy as it asks the nation to fund its recovery from Katrina...Jefferson drew widespread support among blacks who are skeptical of the federal government's motives in its investigation of him.
Jefferson was accused of taking bribes from a company looking to land fat contracts in the Nigerian telecom market. He denies the accusation, pointing out that he hasn't been charged with a crime more than a year after the FBI raided his home.
That election victory won't help Jefferson if he goes to prison!
Now we just have to hope for an indictment, so he'll have to resign.
Sadly, the Congress won't let you run your district from behind prison bars like in the good old days!
December 10, 2006 10:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think this news surprises anyone. The Dems sure do love their corrupt good Ol' boys. God knows they have enough of them in office right now. To think they have the gall to talk about anyone else in the Republican Pary just amazes me. Oh well, I am afraid the country will get exactly what they voted for.
December 11, 2006 12:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
LMAO!
And to think the Democrats used to brag about how intellectually and morally superior they are to people who vote Republican and here they go re-electing a crook and bribe taker over a honest person.
And why didn't Pelosi and her gang of crusaders didn't help Cater instead of letting him go it alone against a crook like Jefferson? Were they afraid of the CBC?
All in all the Democrats have just made themselves look like supporters of corruption and pay to play politics just like De Lay and Hastert.
December 11, 2006 2:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
comment on this news
News Item
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 9 — Brushing past months of unflattering headlines about a federal corruption investigation, Representative William J. Jefferson was elected to a ninth term on Saturday, with a decisive runoff victory that again emphasized this city’s sharp racial divisions.
Comment
Now all that could make this news worse is assignment of Mr. Jefferson to the incompetent and discredited House Ethics Committee.
(from www.altara.blogspot.com)
Homer Hewitt
December 11, 2006 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
J. McCutchen
Someone cut the rope at the lynching.
Too bad
December 11, 2006 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
In cases like Jefferson's, we are at the mercy of the electorate. I don't believe that this reflects as badly on the Democratic Party as it does the voters of LA-2.
I've also heard a lot of people say that Jefferson should be thrown out of office immediately rather than be seated. I don't believe that's productive for two reasons:
1) The precedent has already been established , with Ozzie Myers and Jim Traficant, that you wait for the guilty verdict before expelling a member of Congress. One option available to the Democrats is to give Jefferson no committee assignments. At the time Traficant was expelled, he had no committee assignments;
AND
2) The Democrats, since the debacle of the 2000 election, have beaten the drum about "voter disenfranchisement". What is more disenfranchising than telling voters "we don't trust your judgment enough; we're tossing this guy against your wishes"?
Let Jefferson rejoin Congress, but strip him of his committee assignments. That sends an appropriate message until such time as a guilty verdict is achieved.
December 11, 2006 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Its pretty nervy for a right-winger from Texas to talk about Louisiana and its Good Ol' Boys (GOBs).
Jefferson's story is an old one, its about good old fashioned personal corruption. But as the above indicates, for many of his constituents, its also about the federal government and Brownie...that's right, appointed by that GOB Texan.
But for six years now, the Republican-run congress has been operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of RoveCon, Inc. They have trashed the constitution: Bush has admitted openly to committing impeachable offenses on an on-going basis for years with no plans to stop. They cut taxes on the rich during wartime. They have awards billions in no-bid contracts to contributors, many of which have been paid and even over-paid for, without the work being done. Frist, Hastert and others in the leadership have committed crimes for which, if they had been Democrats with this same goverment in power, they would have long-ago been indicted for.
And let's not forget, that other great Texas GOB, Alberto Gonsalez, who said its okay to torture and that we actually don't have to abide by treaty obligations if we don't want to.
Should we even mention that this administration has not only cut the number of IRS auditors who work on the top tax bracket at the same time they cut the people who make sure that Big Oil pays the royalties they owe us (the American people) and then openly announced that they would not go after millions of dollars of royalties known to be owed but not collected?
But Jefferson's paltry (by Republican standards anyway)$90,000 in the freezer makes the entire Democratic party the same as the GOP GOBs?
Only in that alternative universe that Bush and the Bushies live in.
Bushco delenda est
December 12, 2006 9:00 AM | Reply | Permalink