Mary Dalrymple has an article on the weekend raid by the FBI on the Congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). I’m a bit torn on this issue. On the one hand, unless there is an extremely significant wrinkle explaining why he would be accepting a bag of cash ($100,000 in $100 bills) from an FBI informant, then the Democrats should be howling for their colleague to resign. On the other hand, the idea of the executive branch tossing the office of a member of the legislative branch has disturbing implications. It was refreshing to hear that the Bush administration at least bothered to get a search warrant for this search. Being a member of Congress apparently has its privileges. Being an innocent citizen of the U.S. who uses a telephone: not so much.
I am a little annoyed that it takes an FBI search in Congress to get members of Congress interested in the Bill of Rights again. When it’s the rabble citizenry being searched you hear a bunch of “if you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of.” When it’s an apparently corrupt member of Congress, suddenly the Constitution becomes a sacred document again.
The FBI tossed his New Orleans and Washington homes in August 2005 — that’s when they found all the cash in the Tupperware containers in his freezer. I’m not sure what is the big deal about the new search.
You may recall that Rep Jefferson had a Louisiana National Guard escort to retrieve “personal items” from his New Orleans home a few days after Katrina hit. No one went into the house with him, and he came out an hour later with a laptop computer and a couple of suitcases. This was three weeks or so after the FBI had searched the house, but it was still pretty suspicious, and he never really said what it was he had gone after.
CNN transcript of Paula Zahn grilling him over it shortly afterwards: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/14/pzn.01.html
The democratic party will not maintain their credibility on the “culture of corruption” issue unless they call for his resignation. If they do not do this, it will prove to be a huge strategic blunder come November. Now is the time for Pelosi to show how the Democrats handle corruption differently than the GOP – what are they waiting for?
Jeff Pruitt is 100% correct on this issue!
I am sick and tired of the rampant corruption in Washington that seems to permeate both The Democratic and Republican parties.
We need to crack down on this corruption and we need to send a lot of our current politicians to jail for decades. I do not care what political party they belong to!
If the Democrats were smart they would take a stand on this issue, alas, they will not.
Mike Sylvester
Ditto.
Pelosi just doesn’t get it and she’s going to cost the democrats this election with her poor decision making.
Today she asked Jefferson to resign from the WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE but not from Congress. Good grief. Even if he refuses (as he did about the committee resignation) at least you can hold your head up knowing you did the right thing…
Well Jeff I think this was the right first step. I think we still have time to press on Jefferson.
I can understand the political calculation, but we have to set a standard.
I say:
Indictment = Universal call from dems for Congressman to resign.
Investigation = The steps we’re seeing based on the seriousness of th reports and legal action taken.
Are you suggesting that we demand the resignation of every Congressmen who finds himself part fo a probe from now on, even after an election? What about poor conduct of aides that involves investigation of the Congressman as default. I don’t think you’d want that, or anyone else, half of Congress would have to resign.
So we have to be careful here: what is the best course of action that we will remain consitant with.
If we ask Jefferson to leave now on a probe (no indictment) but don’t do it after an election, the voters will see it for what it is: pure politics.
We should be above that.
I think Pelosi is right on pace to difuse this situation and set good precident for honest leadership.
Brian,
I understand your point and I would agree in most instances. However, just as in the Duke Cunningham case, the evidence is overwhelming and it’s not some case of he said, she said. I just think it’s best to get out in front of this.
I suppose I can see the pros of waiting until an indictment; I just hope the strategy doesn’t backfire…
You know that Pelosi would be howling for a resignation from office, not from a committee, from a Republican- correctly.
Ds & Rs have both long pointed at each other as being corrupt. I believe them! Both are corrupt.