It took forever, but Rep. William "Cold Cash" Jefferson, D-La., was finally indicted for bribery Monday. As a result, he told House leaders today that he plans to take a temporary leave of absence from the House Small Business Committee.
It’s been almost two years since investigators raided Jefferson’s D.C. home and found $90,000 in the freezer. It apparently took so long to file charges because of the stunning scope of the alleged bribery schemes that allegedly netted Jefferson more than $500,000.
As a Washington Post editorial noted, if the allegations are true, it’s a wonder that Jefferson "had any time left over for his day job." Yet even after the freezer scandal, Jefferson easily won re-election last year.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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60 Comments
“As a Washington Post editorial noted, if the allegations are true, it’s a wonder that Jefferson “had any time left over for his day job.” Yet even after the freezer scandal, Jefferson easily won re-election last year.”
Perhaps the saddest note in the whole sorry affair
Perhaps the saddest note in the whole sorry affairPosted by: littlejohn | June 05, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Tom Delay remains popular in his House district, just a little over three hundred miles to the east of Jefferson’s, even though he too is under indictment. If I recall correctly, local polling showed that had he not resigned his seat, he could have handily won reelection.
What is it with people? “I hate Congress because they’re all crooks. But I like my congressman, even though he IS a crook.”
Agreed, Tom.
It doesn’t look good for Mr. Jefferson.
And goodbye to bad rubbish.
The Democratic Party should make an example out of this guy: strip him of all committee responsibilities, completely marginalize him until the verdict is handed down.
None of this “innocent until proven guilty” crap that the Republicans use to stall justice–a politician should above the appearance of impropriaty.
90 grand in one’s freezer puts the burden of proof in the court of public opinion on his shoulders.
Agree with above. I think one of the messages is that “he may be a crook but he’s OUR crook”. I grew up in the Old South; this sort of thing was commonplace.
Tom Delay remains popular in his House district, just a little over three hundred miles to the east of Jefferson’s, even though he too is under indictment. If I recall correctly, local polling showed that had he not resigned his seat, he could have handily won reelection.
What is it with people? “I hate Congress because they’re all crooks. But I like my congressman, even though he IS a crook.”
Posted by: Tom | June 05, 2007 at 12:23 PM
That is just as sad, in my book. ANd there used to be a saying about Huey P. Long, or Louisiana.”He may be a crook,but he;s my crook.”
Yeah, it seems it’s okay for lots of people if a congressman or any official is a crook, as long as he puts money in their pocket.Very sad
This is what happens when you get Democrats in the majority, accountability. The Republicans hid their crimes, excused the criminals, changed the policies to protect the criminals. The Democrats punished one of their own. Bush still hasn’t signed Boyda’s bill that would prohibit these criminals from collecting their pensions while in prison.
How long until the poll–
80% of Blacks think he’s innocent80% of Whites think he’s guilty
of course, wsclark just thinks Jefferson’s a guilty monkey.
Agree with all posts above. Just want to add on more thing….will Fox News change his party affiliation like they did with Foley? Foley was a Republican until the scandal came out……..then Fox changed his party affliation to Mark Foley (Rep-D Fla). Just wondering if this guy is corrupt enough to earn a (R) beside his name?
Doug,
What exactly was it the Democrats taking over had to do with this?
If this were a Republican the Democrats would be running around from media outlet to media outlet crying about how bad the Republicans are demanding his resignation.
NathanHE NEEDS TO RESIGN…..RIGHT AFTER AG AG. How’s that?
Fleet,Is that a racist term? To whom are you refering??????
I agree he must be stripped of all responsibilities. No waiting to find out whether he is or isn’t guilty — do everything to marginalize him NOW!
What is sad is that the Leadership of the House Democrats allowed him to be on any committee.
It is equally sad he was not asked to leave Congress all together.
Why is the Justice Department dragging their feet on this? Jefferson should be on trial already.
And if you will note from the article, Jefferson only plans to take a leave of absence from the Committee he serves. Why not step down permanently?
Jeez, wasn’t it the Republicans in the House, when they had control, that changed the ethics rules? Yeah, I think so. It used to be that a member had to resign when indited. Now, after DeLay, a member only has to resign when he is convicted.
Yeah, and now the Republican bitch?
Jefferson should resign today, Republican ethic rules be damned.
I haven’t heard that bimbo Nancy Pelosi yelling for him to resign…oh, thats right…he’s a deomcrat
“Jeez, wasn’t it the Republicans in the House, when they had control, that changed the ethics rules? Yeah, I think so. It used to be that a member had to resign when indited. Now, after DeLay, a member only has to resign when he is convicted.”
You are surely right. Which is why i always ask myself and others, if it is right to do or give a power to this official, will you be happy if his/her successer excercises the same.
Yeah WSClark, defend your Democrats at any cost right WSClark?
Only a Liberal Moron like WSClark would defend a crook caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Reposted……
“Jefferson should resign today, Republican ethic rules be damned.”
Hey Clark,
The republican caucus has a rule that any republican member of congress has to stand down if indicted. The democrat caucus doesn’t.
The trumped up charges on Delay were the result of a democrat prosecuter in Texas that had bragged at fund raisers that he would indict Delay in order to make him stand down. That is why the republicans tried to change their ethics rules to bring them in line with the democrats.
Chances are the republican’s stricter rules were the driving force for Delay’s indictment.
‘Dollar Bill’ doesn’t have to stand down. He’s a democrat. He merely took a leave of absence.
Hank
The republican caucus still has an ethics rule that requires a congressman to stand down if indicted. They did not change it because of Delay. Some tried, but it still remains.
That is total BS Mr. Price. It is an ethics committee rule, not a party rule.
The House of Representative’s Ethics Committee.
Look it up.
The trumped up charges on Delay were the result of a democrat prosecuter in Texas that had bragged at fund raisers that he would indict Delay in order to make him stand down.Posted by: Hank Price | June 05, 2007 at 01:37 PM
Trumped up charges? Two of his aides are in prison in connection with the Abramoff scandal. How are those trumped up charges?
Leave of absence probably make a certain amount of sense; just as a cop might be suspended but not fired. Then, if convicted; outta there. BUT, if exonerated (which i do NOT see happening in this case) let hime back in.
Ben, it’s not a leave of absence from his Congressional Office, it’s only a leave of absence from his sub committee duties.
He should step aside from his office.
WSClark still defending Jefferson’s action will his political spew. I guess WSClark supports Democratic crooks in office.
And again…….
Reposted……
“Jefferson should resign today, Republican ethic rules be damned.”
WSClark still defending Jefferson’s action will his political spew. I guess WSClark supports Democratic crooks in office.
And again……. and again……
Reposted……
“Jefferson should resign today, Republican ethic rules be damned.”
WS,
It’s worse than just a blank. It’s an entire vacuum.
Now I know what that giant sucking sound is.
Good point. He probably should say sayanara …
It’s easy to see the differences when Democrats are found to be corrupt and Republicans. When Jefferson was going through the legal process the Democrats stripped him of committee assignments, Republicans kept on working like it was business as usual. The corruption of the Democrats was limited to one Democrat, the Republican scandals was spread throughout the Republican party, when Jefferson was found to be in legal trouble the Democrats strengthened the anti-corruption policies, the Republicans simply changed the policies so Republicans like Delay could continue with business as usual.
That’s honesty and integrity, something Republicans give lip service to but Democrats do something about.
“Now I know what that giant sucking sound is.”
I bet you do, tom, I bet you do.
http://kansas.com/wireupdates/story/87175.html
“Jefferson’s decision to take a leave from the panel comes a few days before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is expected to urge a special Democratic House panel to oust him from the committee. Last year, she succeeded in stripping Jefferson of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee over Jefferson’s objection.”
Pelosi, along with the Clintons, will soon have more scandal problems, herself, with InfoUSA, the firm that rips off old people and gives huge amounts of money to Democrats.
And your source please Paul?
Who gives a rat what party a crook belongs to. If convicted, they should get booted out of office, lose their pension (they do not lose it now), and be barred from holding any public office ever again.
O, for those who are trying to pin one or the other parties down:http://wonkette.com/politics/corruption/the-crook-list-208300.php
I will give them this, they have a lot of chutzpah!
From MSNBC……
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19054177/
“Move under way to expel Jefferson from House GOP lobbies Pelosi as indicted Democrat steps down from committee”
This from the party of Cunningham, Ney and DeLay.
When did Ney resign from the House – two months after his guilty plea?
Chutzpah…………..
Will Jefferson cry like the Republicans when they get thrown in the clink or busted for trying to fondle little boys?
I just love the libs on this blog. One of theirs FINALLY gets indited and is still in congress and they are trying to say it isn’t as bad as yours. Will you people ever realize that corruptions comes in all shapes and sizes? It can be rep or dem. Hipocracy your name is democrat!!
Say what you will when the fat hit the fan about Foley, Delay was indited and Cunningham was indited, they weren’t given a choice. They resigned because the republican party said to. Where is the dem leadership and why is it taking so long?
“I just love the libs on this blog. One of theirs FINALLY gets indited and is still in congress and they are trying to say it isn’t as bad as yours.”
What a crock………….
“Jefferson should resign today, Republican ethic rules be damned.”
And Ney resigned TWO MONTHS AFTER he pleaded guilty.
What a crock………….
Jeez, are you sure that this isn’t Bill Clinton’s fault, Grm?
What a crock………….
“Hipocracy”
By the way, Grm, it is spelled HYPOCRISY – every Republican should know how to spell that – it’s their middle name.
H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y, thy name is Republican.
That’s my line.
This was all a Republican conspiracy, like the Scooter Libby case was a Democratic conspiracy!!! What evidence do you all have that he did anything?!!
They got nothin.’
A crook is a crook is a crook, no matter what party they try to hide behind. Some here don’t seem to understand that. A republican crook ain’t a republican; a democrat crook ain’t a democrat. They’re all crooks and belong behind bars. And their sentences should be tripled, because of the blatant disregard of their elected office, and ripping off the voters.
Of course, many voters are too stupid to understand that, and keep putting these morons back in office. I guess all politics is local.
Somehow I don’t think Jefferson is going to compare himself to the persecution of Jews like Tom Delay (good friend of Tiahrt) did. Nor is he going to cry like Bob Ney. Nor do I think he’ll just run to rehab like Mark Foley.
Jefferson’s going to jail for taking bribes, will Tiahrt join him for all the bribes he took from the oil companies to vote in favor of price gouging?
You are right, Mr. Walker, throw their lousy asses in jail and let them rot – Dem or Rep.
But visit the Libby thread and you will see that the Republicans are only in favor of jail terms if THEY consider it to be a crime.
As with the War on Iraq funding bill, the debate on the Immigration Bill and this case with Jefferson, I am disappointed with the Democratic leadership.
Unlike the Republicans, however, I am not being hypocritical about it.
They got nothin.’
From the Republican debate this evening:
Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Hunter both said they would pardon Vice President Dick Cheney’s former aide Lewis I. “Scooter” Libby, sentenced to 30 months in prison earlier in the day for lying and obstructing a CIA leak investigation.
I am looking for the INFOUSA link to Pelosi, I think one of her kids works for that oranization, but Pelosi does have other ethics issues as well:http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-28-pelosi_x.htm
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/11/post_47.html
Pelosi did try to protect Congressman Jefferson:http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0307/3044.html
Here is Gupta/Clinton link, INFOUSA:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/052707/met_173076618.shtml
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=c7490351-4164-4536-8d68-1ca8c5428cd2
The company rips off retired people!
Ok, now do your own research. Gupta stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom, under Clinton.
Gupta helped the Dems take over the majority in Congress.
I did see something that said Pelosi’s son was on Gupta’s payroll, but I can’t find it anymore.
But you are okay with Cunningham, Ney, Tiahrt, DeLay and the rest of the Republican bribe takers, right Paul?
Tip Toe on by, tip toe on bye….
Jefferson doesn’t need a trial, simply indicting the guy is enough to find him guilty.
Hang da man!
You go Gupta!!!!
WS Clark goes by the name of CapnAmerica at night, in his gay mode.
Tip toe on by….
Gay, Vegetarian, Lesbian, Communist, and Proud!!! Love me in my glory, TT!!!
WS Clark, we’ve been watching you on this blog site for several weeks now.
Your posts are absolutely amazing!
We want you to be a part of our team.
Please go to our website if interested, and click on the Contact Us link, and we can discuss your future employment with our firm.
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Minorities are never to be held to account, for anything. I am sure some racist White Republican had him framed.
Doesn’t look like the Jefferson’s are movin on up anymore.
He may be toast – and soon:
http://www.kansas.com/wireupdates/story/88050.html
WASHINGTON – The House ordered a speedy internal investigation that could oust indicted Rep. William J. Jefferson from Congress before his bribery trial.
Paul – Pelosi specifically chose NOT to try to help Jefferson. Read your own link!
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided against filing a motion with a federal appeals court objecting to last year’s FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office, according to Democratic insiders.”
Do you see the word AGAINST?
“Doesn’t look like the Jefferson’s are movin on up anymore.”
He be movin’ on up to the PMITA prison.
Paul – Pelosi specifically chose NOT to try to help Jefferson. Read your own link!
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided against filing a motion with a federal appeals court objecting to last year’s FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office, according to Democratic insiders.”
Do you see the word AGAINST?