June 16, 2006
A Matter of Visibility
Eight-term Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson may have been tossed off the influential Ways and Means Committee behind closed doors by his fellow Democrats, but he didn't go quietly. Jefferson and the Congressional Black Caucus, noting that a white Democrat, West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan, has been allowed to keep his seat while under investigation, implied that race may be an issue.
I would find the spectacle of a falling out between the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic Party an interesting turn of events as we go into the '06 elections, especially in light of the fact that black conservatives have a fair chance of picking up governorships in Pennsylvania and Ohio and a high-profile U.S. Senate Seat in Maryland. That said, I don't think the different treatment of Jefferson and Mollohan is as much an issue of race as it is one of visibility, and hence, politics.
When it comes right down to it, Alan Mollohan's alleged transgressions fly well below the radar of most people, even many of those of us who are very interested in politics. William Jefferson's circumstances, however, are anything but under the radar.
The public easily latched onto the mental image of foil-wrapped frozen stacks of bribe money found in Jefferson's freezer, and the furor over the raid on his Washington, D.C. offices surpassed even that. Fair or not, William Jefferson has quickly become the image in many people's mind when they think of corrupt politicians, and almost single-handedly killed the “culture of corruption” storyline Democrats wanted to use this fall.
Being a public relations liability for the Democratic Party in an election year has far more to do with his ouster than does the color of his skin.
"William Jefferson has quickly become the image in many people’s mind when they think of corrupt politicians"
You're using selective memory. Of all the congressional corruption that has come to light recently, Jefferson and Mollohan are the only Dems I know of, and both of them have been sanctioned.
It's not fair to say that the Dems ousted Jefferson and Mollohan for PR -- it was after all the right thing to do, and I'm glad they did it.
Look at the Repubs. Cunninham didn't quit until he pleaded quilty.
Jerry Lewis, R-CA is Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He sure looks guilty, yet he's in good standing. There's a defense contractor CEO named Tom Casey who claims the Lewis told him to give Bill Lowery stock options in exchange for Lewis passing on an earmark, and that's only the beginning.
You will be a better citizen of this country if you can let go of the childish notion that one party is god-like and the other is vile and useless. There are good and bad Democrats and Republicans.
Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at June 17, 2006 07:32 AMOf all the congressional corruption that has come to light recently, Jefferson and Mollohan are the only Dems I know of...
How quickly the left forgets why Alcee Hasting is a congressman rather than still a Federal judge.
Of course, now he's more careful about his corruption after having been impeached and removed as a judge.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at June 17, 2006 10:46 AMPurple Avenger -- How quickly the left forgets why Alcee Hasting is a congressman rather than still a Federal judge.
Of course, now he's more careful about his corruption after having been impeached and removed as a judge.
I'm not sure who that is. Okay, there are three crooked Democrats. I don't doubt that there are a lot more. However the Dems are making clear steps to address their corruption, and it's wrong to call it PR.
By the way, Denny Hastert is a crook too. I wonder if they'll ask him to step down? By the way, I don't know much about the site this comes from; if what they say is factually wrong, fine, but don't give me any grief about the site being too liberal or whatever (I'm not a reader, I followed a link to it) without saying how the facts are incorrect. It sure looks damning.
Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at June 17, 2006 10:25 PMDangit the link disappeared on me. Here it is again:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/06/15/hastert-pictures-of-corruption/
Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at June 17, 2006 10:26 PMMollohan went from about 500,000 to 26 million in four years. What is it that you think the public doesn't understand about this Conbgressman. While I have little use for tyhe BC in this case they may be right.
Posted by: Thomas J. Jackson at June 17, 2006 11:00 PMIf you don't know who Alcee Hasting is, then you've been hiding uder a rock for many years.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at June 17, 2006 11:35 PMPurple Avenger -- you see I'm not defending the Democrats, I'm attacking the Republicans. I can't even keep track of them any more: Frist, DeLay, Hastert, Lewis, Pombo, Ney, Safavian, Abramoff, Cunningham,... it just goes on and on and reaches congressional leadership and above.
I don't follow Florida's 23rd ditrict, but like I said, I'll assume you're right and that Hastings is a crook.
The Dems have made concrete steps to discipline Jefferson. The Republicans did nothing about all the guys above I mentioned. Go on and explain to me how the Dems are behind the corruption in Washington.
Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at June 18, 2006 10:50 AMOh for crying out loud..........they're ALL crooks. If they weren't, they'd have REAL jobs like salesmen, managers, or crack dealers instead of megalomaniacal politicians. Let's get an amendment passed for Congressional term limits NOW and kill this nonsense for good.
Posted by: Thrill at June 18, 2006 05:31 PMThe Republicans did nothing about all the guys above I mentioned
Seems to me Cunningham recently checked into the Greybar hotel.
The Dems have made concrete steps to discipline Jefferson.
The man was caught red handed taking 100 large in cash. Concrete steps would be booting him out on his ass.
Posted by: Purple Avenger at June 18, 2006 06:12 PMPA -- Cunningham quit congress the day he was indicted. His example serves my argument, not yours; he was obviously guilty and the Republican leadership should have leaned on him to quit, but they didn't do anything apparently.
I hope the Dems do lean on Jefferson to quit before he's indicted. I'm glad they stripped him of his committee.
I don't know what the rules are for forcing a congressman out.
Posted by: Cyrus McElderry at June 18, 2006 07:20 PM*snicker* You do realize that the words you attach to the linnk become bold, right CY? I loaded your site and 'tossed off' kinda jumped off the page.
I was thinking, "Good Lord, what is Jefferson doing now!" :)
Posted by: Kevin at June 18, 2006 08:56 PMMy favorite line on this: "we judge Rep. Jefferson not by the color of his skin but by the content of his freezer."
Posted by: Foobarista at June 18, 2006 09:45 PMOnly one crooked democrat? Not according to documented offenses on NoAgenda.org . Extra edition, Read all about it. LMAO at the dim-wit's attempts to cover up their 'culture of corruption', blame it on the other guy rants. Easy money makes criminal out of a lot of people. Look at the leaders of the largest industries/stock markets in the 90's. Thousand of people who didn't need the money stole money from the investors, and a lot of it (World Com) was hyped by Algore as a good investment. If you're one of the hundreds of thousands that lost your retirement accounts and/or life saving to the 'Slick Willie' era criminals you know first hand how honest(sic) the dim-wits are.
Posted by: Scrapiron at June 19, 2006 11:33 AMScrapiron -- I don't understand. I didn't say there was one crooked Dem.
How can you believe there's more Dem corruption now than Repub? That's ludicrous. Hastert, DeLay, Cunningham, Lewis, Ney, Pombo, Safavian, Libby, Abramoff... I can't even keep track, that's just off the top of my head.
I know Jefferson is a crook, and somebody said there's another one named Hastings.
What are you talking about?
