BRIBED DEMOCRAT CRIES FOUL

The stuck pig is howling! Howling loud!

What would you do if you were caught on tape in an FBI sting where you were a Congressman accepting a $100,000 cash bribe? Furthermore, what would you do if a search of your premises turned up a hundred large in your freezer all neatly wrapped up in tinfoil and stored away!

Well, if you're Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson, you play the victim route. You stand up there with a straight face and promise to fight the good fight...stay in Congress and try and defeat the charges. At least Randy Cunningham had the decency to resign. Not so with Jefferson. He even plans on running for re-election. Then again, stranger things have happened...D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was caught on tape smoking crack...and since then he's managed to worm his sleazy way back into government.

The FBI searched his office over the weekend. Big deal. They had a search warrant to do so. It also sounds like they had a need to, given the scope of the corruption involved. But there's Jefferson...crying about how "there are two sides to every story." Oh really? Is it the side where you took the $100,000 in hundred dollar bills and the other side where you hid them in your freezer? We already got both sides of that story. Oh...I get it. He was just holding the money for a friend. Or maybe if you store your money in a freezer it won't be so affected by inflation. Maybe it earns interest in there! Yeah .. .any explanation might work. But ... small problem-o. It seems that the informant that handed over the cash was wearing a wire. wouldn't you love to hear that recording?

The most amazing part of the story is how Republicans are circling the wagons around Jefferson. They're actually complaining that the evil FBI searched a Congressional office. Evidently this is the first time in 219 years this has taken place. The Speaker of the House got particularly huffy, saying "Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this separation of powers line in order to successfully prosecute corruption by members of Congress."

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

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Congress' bipartisan puffering about the search ...

by Evie May 23, 2006 4:07AM PDT

... is truly amazing. Maybe they will realize that the Constitution doesn't give them unlimited "oversight" of everything in the Executive either? There were warrants -- that means two branches involved. I thought that was the kind of separation of powers thing that Congress hails!

Evie

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(NT) (NT) wanna bet he wins

by Mark5019 May 23, 2006 4:20AM PDT

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The only fly in the ointment...

by Dick White May 23, 2006 5:05AM PDT

I see (but I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV) is that the FBI agents, in executing the search warrant, apparently refused to allow both Jefferson's own lawyer and/or the House of Representatives General Counsel to accompany them and observe the surprise search of his Congressional office on a Saturday night. Seems like the FBI has more than enough to go on, so a jackboot raid by flashlight was a little over the top. Common criminals do have some reasonable procedural rights.

dw

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(NT) (NT) No right to be present during a search

by duckman May 23, 2006 6:10AM PDT

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question...

by Dick White May 23, 2006 7:41AM PDT

not arguing, just asking... maybe no absolute right to be present which would mean in practice that they could not execute a search until you were present or appropriately waived that right. But what if you were in fact present or your lawyer was present, do they have the absolute right to bar you from presence in your own premises while they tear up the floorboards?

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Yes

by Diana Former Forum moderator May 23, 2006 11:27PM PDT

In fact they will ask you to step outside.

Diana

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Police are in complete control and may even restrain you

by duckman May 24, 2006 11:18AM PDT

so you have NO right to be present

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(NT) (NT) But it's not fare. He wasn't supposed to get caught.;-)

by caktus May 23, 2006 10:10PM PDT

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The stuck pig is howling! Howling loud!

by JP Bill May 23, 2006 11:20PM PDT

I've heard howling, and the 3 or 4 times I saw Jefferson, it didn't sound like howling, he spoke softly and explained what he thought about the situation.

I think a good example of howling would be Zell Miller, don't know if he spoke on this situation but I've heard him howl on other situations.

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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT STRIKES A NERVE

by Mark5019 May 23, 2006 11:30PM PDT

The FBI is in the soup with the House of Representatives these days. Nobody...Republicans or Democrats...is happy about the raid on William Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana's office over the weekend. Members of Congress, including the Speaker, are absolutely terrified that this could become a regular habit of federal law enforcement. Oh, the humanity! Isn't is just outrageous that our elected officials should be subject to the same laws that we all live under?

They claim that it's unconstitutional. Funny...nothing in the Constitution about searching a corrupt public official's office. It protects against unlawful search and seizure...but the feds had a warrant. Separation of powers? Eh..that's a stretch. A crime was committed...what were they supposed to do, look the other way? Right at the front of yesterday's whining was House Majority Leader John Boehner, who said that "the congress will clearly speak to this issue of the justice department's invasion of the legislative branch. In what form I don't know. I've got to believe at the end of the day it's going to end up across the street, at the Supreme Court. I don't see anything short of that." Aww...poor baby.

Are they actually shaking in their boots just because a corrupt Congressman got popped hiding $90,000 in his freezer? Maybe they're just more afraid of living under the same laws their constituents have to live under. By the way...evidently the bribe/kickback/payoff was $100,000. The other ten grand must be under the floorboards or something.

No wonder the approval rating of Congress is so low. This is probably just the tip of the corruption iceberg.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1997872

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

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RE: absolutely terrified

by caktus May 24, 2006 1:17PM PDT

Perhaps because they too have payola in their freezers.

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Does that mean that any Congresscritter

by Diana Former Forum moderator May 23, 2006 11:32PM PDT

just has to hide his illegal activities in his office and the law can't do anything about it?

I remember the FBI doing a sting when I lived in OK and the Congressmen were lining up so often to get the bribes that they had to shut it down because they were running out of money. This one involved Middle Easterns buying favors. Now it's corporations buying favors to work in the Middle East.

Diana

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I've seen them claim the same immunity ...

by Evie May 24, 2006 12:17AM PDT

... invoked when Patrick Kennedy claimed to be on the way to a vote and Cynthia McKinney hit the Cap Police.

Article 1 Section 6
They shall in all Cases, >>except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace,<< be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

The talking heads proclaiming their immunity seem to leave out the part I put in the >> << in the quote. In Jefferson's case we're talking Felony, in Kennedy & McKinney we're talking Breach of the Peace at a minimum.

Congress seems to think it has a right to internal memoranda of the Executive Branch when no wrongdoing is even suspected (Judicial Confirmation hearings for example). Why do they think their hallowed halls are sacrosanct if/when a member is using them for criminal acts? Apparently they were asked to turn over certain materials and failed to comply. A warrant was obtained. I see a lot of overpuffed posturing on the part of Congress (past and present) members here.

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That has more legal basis than the custom of Presidential

by Dave Konkel [Moderator] May 24, 2006 11:21PM PDT

privilege, Evie. It's all tied up in the Separation of Powers issue. Interestingly, even Tom DeLay is complaining about the FBI raid -- but meanwhile, Pelosi is stripping Jefferson of his Ways and means seat...

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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(NT) (NT) good as its obvious hes guilty

by Mark5019 May 24, 2006 11:23PM PDT

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(NT) (NT) Well Pelosi has it right

by Evie May 25, 2006 12:03AM PDT

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How many posts do we need on the same topic, and why do some

by Ziks511 May 24, 2006 4:09PM PDT

get locked when you've got a perfectly good one to post this on.

Equal treatment, don't make me laught.

Rob

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You

by duckman May 24, 2006 9:01PM PDT

must be talking to/about yourself, right?

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rob you make me laugh

by Mark5019 May 24, 2006 11:24PM PDT

you post nothing but garbage long winded nothings.
your egotistical meanderings bore us all

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