[Ninong]

This is beyond belief! Rep. William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson (D-LA) is winning reelection in the 2nd Congressional District! He received only 30% of the vote in the November 7th election, which forced him into a runoff with the second place finisher, who received 23% of the vote. There were 12 or 13 candidates in the race.

Jefferson's former chief of staff has already pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges and a Kentucky businessman has pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to a phony company headed by Jefferson's wife and children to obtain favors from the congressman.

The FBI raided Jefferson's Capitol Hill office, with a search warrant, but that didn't prevent the House leadership from going bonkers over the separation of powers doctrine. They may have a point, although their position is obviously self-serving, particularly with the investigations that will surely come once the Democrats take control, but I believe a judge should have the power to issue a search warrant for a congressman's office if evidence of suspected criminal activity is persuasive. Anyway, the expected indictment of Jefferson has been delayed pending appeals on whether the evidence seized from his office can be used.

Jefferson has denied any wrongdoing. He had one TV ad where he looks directly into the camera and tells the voters that he never took a bribe from anyone in his life. Everything will be clear once the investigation is complete. He can't talk about it right now because there is an ongoing investigation but he is confident that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

He has also found God a great help in these "difficult times." He prays a lot. He has been visiting all of the black churches telling them that his opponent, Karen Carter, is pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage. This is absolutely amazing! Jefferson himself was pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage until recently. In fact, as recently as 2002, he received a 100% rating from the gay-rights group, Human Rights Campaign. Like Mitt Romney, he has revised his views on these two issues.

Jefferson also played the race card by implying that Carter was the candidate favored by the white business establishment. Both candidates are black but Jefferson is blacker. It's a New Orleans thing. It goes back a very long way. Racism has many nuances down here. Ask any not-all-that-black black person to explain the paper bag test.

Jefferson did not receive the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Karen Carter is the official candidate of the Democratic Party. Jefferson was endorsed by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin! This is the same clown who endorsed the Republican candidate for governor in the last gubernatorial race. The Republican lost! Nagin, of course, is a Democrat. I think he endorsed Jefferson just to piss off the Democratic Party because Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, younger brother of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, had the audacity to run against him earlier this year for mayor.

The guy who came in third in the November 7th election endorsed Jefferson. The sheriff of neighboring Jefferson parish took out ads denouncing Karen Carter and asking people not to vote for her because she criticized the actions of Jefferson parish deputies who refused to allow a crowd of mostly black people to cross the Mississippi river bridge from Orleans parish to Jefferson parish during the height of the crisis following Hurricane Katrina.

All of that is just smoke. The real reason they all suddenly backed Jefferson is because they expect him to be indicted. That way the seat will come open again and they can have a new election to fill the vacancy. If Karen Carter had won, she would have been in a safe seat for a very long time.

Right now, with about half the precincts reporting, Jefferson is leading with 60% to Carter's 40%. Sick! How can anyone vote for someone who got caught with $90,000 in marked bills in his freezer?

There was also an extremely low turnout -- only 15% of registered voters voted today compared to 28% who voted on November 7th. Some people just can't be bothered with voting!

P.S. -- I forgot to mention that the FBI videotaped Jefferson accepting $100,000 in marked bills that was intended as a bribe for the vice president of Nigeria. A couple of days later the FBI raided Jefferson's residence and found $90,000 in cold hard cash in his freezer -- the same marked bills. The other $10,000 was unaccounted for.

P.P.S. -- Nancy Pelosi is going to be pissed!

[Ninong]

Jefferson proved that the race card and the God card can trump the corruption card in New Orleans! He used the O.J. defense to convince enough gullible people that "the man" was out to get him. No doubt he will now make a victory tour of all the black churches to thank God for His support!

Here's the AP's take on what happened yesterday in LA-2:

NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in a runoff election Saturday, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation.

In complete but unofficial returns, Jefferson, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, received 57 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 43 percent.

Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson’s freezer.

Jefferson described his win as “a great moment and I thank almighty God for making it possible.”

His presence in Washington could be embarrassing for Democrats, who won control of Congress on a platform of cleaning up corruption. In June, incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., led a successful effort to remove Jefferson from the powerful House Ways and Means Committee as the probe unfolded.

He was accused of taking bribes from a company seeking lucrative contracts in the Nigerian telecommunications market. He has not been charged with any crime and denies any wrongdoing.

The scandal turned the race into a debate largely divided along racial lines, an age-old dynamic in this city that has intensified since Hurricane Katrina displaced large numbers of blacks and upended their demographic and political dominance.

Whites, who overwhelmingly voted for Carter in the primary and have been her most enthusiastic financial backers, believed a Jefferson win would confirm this city’s image as corrupt and untrustworthy as it asks the nation to fund its recovery from Katrina.

City Councilman Oliver Thomas said Jefferson’s victory would make the recovery more difficult.

“People are watching this election all around the country and I can only imagine what they are thinking,” Thomas said. “It will be very difficult to go back to them and ask them to trust us with the money we need here.”

Carter’s campaign spokesman and father, Ken Carter, said he felt they had done all they could to compete against Jefferson, but regretted the tone of the campaign in the final stages.

“Race is all too often a factor in campaigns in New Orleans,” Ken Carter said. “Here we had a candidate that tried to paint this young African-American woman as a pawn of the white establishment.”

Jefferson, 59, drew widespread support among blacks who are skeptical of the federal government’s motives in its investigation of him. He repeatedly suggested the probe is groundless because he has yet to be indicted more than a year after the FBI raided his home in New Orleans.

Carter, 37, raised nearly five times as much money as Jefferson, but she was largely outflanked in the endorsement game. Jefferson picked up the backing of Mayor Ray Nagin and other prominent black politicians.

P.S. -- The voter turnout was a disgrace! Fifteen percent of the registered voters bothered to vote. No wonder this state is the laughing stock of the entire nation!

P.P.S. -- Jefferson won 57 percent of the vote to Carter's 43 percent. He won 79 percent of votes in largely black precincts, while she won 76 percent of votes in largely white precincts, according to a post-election analysis by Greg Rigamer, a consultant for the Carter campaign.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Ninong

In complete but unofficial returns, Jefferson, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, received 57 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 43 percent.

Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson’s freezer.

Jefferson described his win as “a great moment and I thank almighty God for making it possible.”

P.S. -- The voter turnout was a disgrace! Fifteen percent of the registered voters bothered to vote. No wonder this state is the laughing stock of the entire nation!

Finally!

Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) was finally indicted earlier today. It's a 94-page indictment!

I wonder if he will describe this as "a great moment?"

From the The Times-Picayune:

WASHINGTON - A federal grand jury issued an indictment today against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, accusing the New Orleans Democrat of 16 counts including racketeering, soliciting bribes, fraud, money-laundering and obstructing justice in connection with a web of business deals in Africa, a federal official said.

Jefferson was not immediately available for comment. The charges will not impact his ability to serve in Congress while awaiting trial.

The indictment pulls back the cover on a government investigation that became public when the FBI raided the congressman's Capitol Hill townhouse in August 2005, finding $90,000 stashed in his freezer. Prosecutors say the cash was part of the $100,000 that an informant had handed Jefferson days earlier in a northern Virginia parking garage.

Jefferson, 60, who won reelection in December despite the publicity from the probe, has steadfastly maintained his innocence and said last year there is "an honorable explanation" for the money and other allegations, some based on conversations secretly recorded by the informant.

The FBI's sting operation, the first of its kind since the Abscam probe targeting corrupt members of Congress in the 1970s, has already sent two former Jefferson associates to prison. Both acknowledged taking part in a scheme to funnel money to companies controlled by the nine-term congressman and his family in exchange for his help in promoting a telecommunications business in Nigeria and Ghana.

[Ninong]

Just when you think they can't get any dumber, they do something like this:

Here's a brief video clip from Josh Marshall. He includes a segment from Fox News today where they announced the indictment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) while showing a clip of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

In the clip you will see someone holding up a sign that reads "Resign!" That was filmed during the Gonzales hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and the sign was asking for Gonzales to resign. Fox News is trying to make it appear that it was aimed at William Jefferson, who is not on the House Judiciary Committee. They zoom in on John Conyers, thinking he's William Jefferson. Well, they're both African-Americans, right? We can't expect people like Bill O'Reilly, who is currently worried that "white Christian men" are losing their position of power in this country, to be able to tell the difference between people who are not "white Christian men," whatever that means. What a bunch of morons!

A couple of months ago, John Gibson lamented that Hispanics were breeding at a faster rate than "white" people in this country and unless "white" people started having more babies, they would lose control. Of course, he was probably drunk at the time but it's hard to tell. I don't know for sure if I have ever seen him sober. And it wasn't that long ago that Pat Buchanan came out with a book warning us that immigrants from countries other than what he considers acceptable countries were going to destroy America as we know it. In Pat's jargon, anybody who doesn't look like him is a threat to America.

P.S. -- Fox News has finally admitted they screwed up. Here's the video clip of their so-called apology.