Culture of Corruption: William Jefferson

William Jefferson, Democrat representative from Louisiana, has a lot to worry about. The Feds have strong evidence that he has accepted bribes.

As far as abusing his power as a U.S. congressman goes, Jefferson is a serial offender.

Of course, that's trouble for Jefferson; but it's also problematic for the Dems.

Jefferson's illicit activities are another embarrassing stain on the Dem plan to paint Republicans as hopelessly corrupt and themselves as lily-white.

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Federal investigators said in court papers that they videotaped Democratic Representative William Jefferson accepting a leather briefcase packed with $100,000 in cash from a government witness in a bribery investigation.

Jefferson, of Louisiana, also was recorded in a telephone conversation promising to help the unnamed witness with a business venture in Nigeria and Ghana, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed to support a search warrant for Jefferson's congressional office.

"I will give it a thousand percent, as you might imagine," Jefferson was quoted as saying during a telephone conversation, according to the FBI documents, which were released by the Department of Justice yesterday.

...Jefferson's case, as well as that of Democratic Representative Alan Mollohan of West Virginia, may complicate efforts by Democrats to capitalize on a series of scandals involving Republicans. Mollohan, who has stepped down temporarily as a member of the House Ethics Committee, has been accused of misstating his personal assets. He has said he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

In past court filings, prosecutors alleged Jefferson received more than $400,000 from a Kentucky company and had a 30 percent interest in a Nigerian company transferred to his children. The Kentucky company, iGate Inc., based in Louisville, was owned by Vernon Jackson, who has pleaded guilty to bribing a public official.

According to the affidavit released yesterday, the FBI recorded phone calls between Jefferson and a cooperating witness, who is not identified, in which they discussed the possibility of a $100,000 payment to Jefferson in exchange for assistance in a Nigerian business venture.

Federal investigators said they videotaped Jefferson on July 30, 2005, accepting the cash in a leather briefcase from the witness and putting it in his 1990 Lincoln Towncar following a meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

All but $10,000 of the money was found in a freezer when the FBI searched Jefferson's Washington-area home on Aug. 3, 2005, a search that previously was disclosed. The money was stuffed in food containers and wrapped in aluminum foil, according to the affidavit. Some of the money, $4,800, was given to a legislative assistant in Jefferson's office as a loan to address her financial difficulties, the FBI said.

In Jackson's plea agreement, he said he and Jefferson had an agreement that called for Jackson's company to make monthly payments of $7,500 and give the lawmaker stock options and a percentage of gross sales, the court papers said. Jackson's company developed technology designed to transmit data, audio and video communications over copper wire.

Jefferson denies any wrongdoing.

That's just stupid. He's been caught. Why continue to lie? That makes matters even worse than they already are.

How could Jefferson explain away tens of thousands of dollars crammed in food containers, wrapped in foil, and kept in a freezer?

How can he claim innocence with evidence of his actions caught on video and audiotape?

He can't.

Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi need a new strategy. They made an incredible miscalculation in believing that they could present Dems as virtuous and decent compared to Republicans.

Democrats simply cannot accuse Republicans of being immersed in a "Culture of Corruption" when they are steeped in it.