Good for Nancy. This is a good step (although a no-brainer) in her promise to drain the swamp:
WASHINGTON — House Democrats, insistent that they will hold lawmakers to higher standards, decided Tuesday that Rep. William Jefferson will not return to an influential committee until a federal corruption investigation involving him is completed.
Good. Of course, the Congressional Black Caucus is raising a fuss (because that’s what they do). From an Opinion column in the Ocala.com:
The time has come for the Congressional Black Caucus to place doing the right thing and choosing the right person for the job ahead of narrow racial considerations.
That’s not going to happen. Because the race card trumps the do-the-right-thing card every single time in the CBC. (RealClearPolitics has more on Politics and Racism in America)
It’s expected that FBI investigators will hand down indictments against Jefferson sometime in mid-2007 (remember, they’ve already found $90K in marked bribe money in his freezer). Jefferson has already stated that he won’t step down even if indicted — which means that we will very likely see the trial of a sitting Congressman.
Sadly, Rep. Jefferson isn’t just ethically bankrupt, but morally bankrupt, too:
Jefferson used emergency response personnel and transportation, including members of the National Guard, to retrieve “packages” from his home. These were people attempting to rescue and protect victims of Katrina who were diverted by Jefferson to perform a personal chore.
in re-electing both Mayor Ray Nagin and Rep. Jefferson, the people of New Orleans have shown that they don’t give a damned about corruption in their city. New Orleans is one of the most lawless and degenerate cities in America, though, so I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.
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In other Democratic-Culture-of-Corruption News:
Now that Rep. Jim McDermott (D–WA) has been found guilty of ethics violations, it will be interesting to see how Nancy Pelosi deals with this corrupt swamp denizen.
Most of the left was very disappointed and surprised that the people of Louisiana re-elected Jefferson. However, I do recognize that they have an understandable distrust of the Federal government after hurricane Katrina and that they will not necessarily vote out a congressman simply because the feds say he’s corrupt.
It’s disappointing but perhaps not surprising.
… and I have an understandable distrust of the people who defrauded me and every other taxpayer of over a billion damn dollars after Hurricane Katrina. Watch donations plummet when the next disaster comes along thanks to these weasels.
New Orleans is one of the most corrupt cities ever. Their political base is based on friendship. That is who someone is connected to. For example, under Morial’s administration, Stan Barre, was a subcontractor on a lucrative contract. Stan Barre is a personal friend of former Mayor, Mark Morial. Stan Barre was indicted, by the federal governemt, concerning various illegal practices connected to that contract. His trial will begin on January 16, 2007.
His son, Stan Barre, is also facing criminal charges. His trial will begin on February 20, 2007. The court proceedings can be viewed here.