Thanks For Nothing, Congressman Jefferson

Rep. William Jefferson is the first black U.S. Congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction. He's Harvard educated! He has a nice family! And he is the first congressman to bribe a Nigerian official and subsequently get himself charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act! Oh, wait. That's not a good thing.

In addition to paying off foreign officials, a grand jury yesterday accused Jefferson of accepting $400,000 in bribes in exchange for allowing his office to be used to broker African business deals. There's a lot more corruption I don't need to get into. The indictment is 94 pages.

USA Today keeps talking about how Jefferson has shamed the Democratic Party, which stressed political corruption during the midterm elections last year. I don't even need to mention the other group Jefferson has shamed, if he's guilty, of course. And it's looking that way — there was a long-running investigation preceding his hearing yesterday. He faces up to decades in jail if convicted.

So Jefferson hails from New Orleans, which is not exactly a bastion of political morality. But, still, he's obviously not a dumb guy. With just a handful of us in federal office, can't we at least try to keep it on the straight and narrow?

[USAT]

Jun 5, 2007 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 5 Responses

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Tagged: Corruption, Crime & Punishment, Politics, Rep. William Jefferson

Comments (5)

No. 1 · We All Look Alike In The Dark / Stereohyped

[...] The genuises over there displayed a picture of Congressman John Conyers, D-MI, during a story about disgraced Congressman William Jefferson. No, they don't have similar names. They don't look alike. They aren't from the [...]

Posted: Jun 6, 2007 at 9:31 am

No. 2 · What Do You Call Two Black Guys Who Have Seats in Congress? / Jossip

[...] means that when the cable network was airing a story on disgraced Congressman William Jefferson's indictment, relays Stereohyped, they used a photo of Michigan Congressman John Conyers [...]

Posted: Jun 6, 2007 at 10:38 am

No. 3 · Hollywood Bedroom » Blog Archive » What Do You Call Two Black Guys Who Have Seats in Congress?

[...] means that when the cable network was airing a story on disgraced Congressman William Jefferson's indictment, relays Stereohyped, they used a photo of Michigan Congressman John Conyers [...]

Posted: Jun 6, 2007 at 11:27 am

No. 4 · He’s Got An Icebox Where His Cash Used To Be / Stereohyped

[...] freezer, but that's just me. Maybe Rep. Jefferson likes his money ice cold. This morning, the scandal-plagued congressman maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to charges he accepted a half a million [...]

Posted: Jun 8, 2007 at 12:16 pm

No. 5 · An Open Letter To Congressman William Jefferson / Stereohyped

[...] Kind of like one of Chris Rock's goals as a father is to not let his daughters end up in stripper heels, my expectation as a member of the black voting public is for elected officials not to end up as Fox News fodder. By "elected officials," in this case, I mean Democrats. Specifically black Democrats. To get even more specific about things, I'm talking about you Congressman Jefferson. [...]

Posted: Jun 9, 2007 at 10:34 am

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