While there’s something to be said for standing by a friend, politics is rather different from a playground snub over Red Rover (from NOLA.com):
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who rarely misses an opportunity to tout his efforts to rid City Hall of corruption, said Thursday that he will enthusiastically urge voters to re-elect U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, the target of a sprawling federal bribery probe that has cost the veteran congressman his seat on an influential House committee.
The current political climate would seem a very strange time to step into the limelight in support of someone who is suspected of stashing bribery funds in his freezer, but:
On Thursday, Nagin said he is not the least concerned about how his endorsement of Jefferson might play on the national stage.
“Unless he is indicted prior to the election date, I do not believe my reciprocated support will generate a story with any type of legs,” Nagin said. “His experience and relationships in Washington — even in its current subdued form — should be helpful for our city and state going forward.”
Clearly Nagin has no plans for anything other than this last term as Mayor of New Orleans. Probably just as well…
And as a side-note: the Nola.com article says that Jefferson has been removed from the Ways and Means Committee, but his house.gov biography apparently hasn’t caught up with events:
Jefferson has also worked extensively on tax issues, providing innovative ideas for tax reform that benefits working, middle-class families and is the only member of the Ways and Means Committee to hold a Master of Laws Degree in Taxation.
Shouldn’t that read “was”? Or is that because it’s only temporary?
In a contentious closed-door meeting, Democrats debated Jefferson’s fate and ultimately voted 99-58 to temporarily remove him, while preserving his seniority, until he is no longer the target of a government probe.
[snip]
“There are a lot of Democrats who feel fairness is a higher standard than political expediency,” said Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), who sided with Jefferson. “We need to win the House back, but not at any cost.”
Pelosi had argued that Democrats needed to set the bar higher on ethics. She made the case that Democrats must show that they are more serious than Republicans when it came to disciplining wayward members.
Hmmm…. Does that debate look strange to anybody but me, in light of a certain recent scandal?
Interesting… especially in light of the Great Howl of Unconstitutional Unfairness raised by the House (both sides of the aisle, to be fair) over the FBI raid on his office (even though equipped with a proper search warrant, and even though Rep. Jefferson had been ignoring subpoenas related to the bribery investigation for some time.) Compare that with the fact that nobody is demanding the FBI and DoJ back off from Rep. Foley (although a fishing expedition through a House member’s email should be more constitutionally troubling than going through his refrigerator, looking for cold hard ca$h.)
But, given that we have reached that period of our national political cycle called “election season”, I fully expect to see, and hear, lots of this type of mass-insanity for the next several months. As Claytie once said over a campfire, “If it’s inevitable… lay back and enjoy it.”
~EdT.
Actually, Congress reached an agreement with the DOJ on how it should go about searching congressional offices, should the need arise. And the DOJ adhered to the agreement, so there is nothing here to concern Members of Congress. In addition, the House formally requested that the DOJ open an investigation. And searching Jefferson’s refrigerator was not the issue. The problem was searching his congressional office.