[T]he FBI not only caught Democrat William Jefferson on videotape accepting marked bills under his dinner table at the Ritz Hotel, but later found those bills stored amongst $90,000 similar bills in the freezer of his Washington, DC townhouse. [The iPINIONS Journal 11 December 2006]
This is how I expressed my cynicism about and consternation over the fact that – despite overwhelming evidence of his criminal enterprise – Rep William Jefferson (D-LA) was still re-elected to Congress last November. Notwithstanding the gullible (or stupid) voters in his district, however, I felt so confident that – in due course – his day of reckoning would come that I ended the above-referenced article as follows:
But saving his job is one thing. Beating FBI charges against him is quite another. Indeed, I suspect Jefferson’s victory will prove pyrrhic at best. Because it only means that when he’s indicted (within months) on federal bribery charges, his arrest as a sitting Congressman will be all the more politically embarrassing for Democratic leaders – who just regained control of Congress by promising to rid it of corruption.
Therefore, I was not at all surprised yesterday when federal prosecutors announced a 16-count indictment against Jefferson (an eight-term member of the US Congress) on charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering, all of which carry a penalty of over 200 years in jail. In fact prosecutors allege that Jefferson:
…traded on his good offices to enrich himself and his family in a pervasive pattern of self-dealing, fraud, bribery and corruption that spanned many years and two continents.
And, just as I predicted this indictment, I predict that Jefferson will be found guilty and imprisoned for the rest of his life…and deservedly so!
It is absurd, however, for partisan Republicans to assert that this case – of an admittedly brazen and egregious betrayal of public trust – establishes political and / or moral equivalency with serial abuses committed by their Party members, including axed-Congressmen Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney and Tom DeLay, which precipitated their demise in Congressional elections last year. Of course, it’s still early days for the Democrats. And, given their campaign pledge to rid Congress of the culture of corruption, it behooves Democratic leaders to censure, if not expel, Jefferson with dispatch. Indeed, the very sight of him on Capitol Hill makes a mockery of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s promise to run the most ethical Congress in US history….
NOTE: It is instructive that shady Nigerian businessmen (which, incidentally, is fast becoming an inherently redundant concept) were instrumental in helping Jefferson perpetrate his corrupt schemes throughout the entire continent of Africa. But this will come as no surprise to regular readers of this weblog who are familiar with the 419 Nigerian scams I warned them about here and here many years ago….
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From Huey Long to William Jefferson, corruption pays in Louisiana…
Congressman William Jefferson
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