Louisiana congressman re-elected despite bribery investigation
New Orleans Voters Support Their Man Over F.B.I.
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 10 — Rep. William J. Jefferson may be a pariah in some Washington political circles, but voters in this storm-battered city weighed in over the weekend with their own verdict regarding their scandal-plagued congressman: He’s still our guy. Voters gave the Louisiana Democrat an emphatic reelection victory over state Rep. Karen Carter, even though his campaign had been weighted with revelations that federal authorities had videotaped him taking $100,000 in alleged bribe money, and that $90,000 of it had been found inside a freezer in his apartment in the District. The investigation led House colleagues to dump him from a key committee, donors abandoned him and the state Democratic Party switched its allegiance to his opponent.
As if anyone needed yet another reason why Louisiana should be towed out into the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and sunk to create an artificial reef…here’s your sign. Former DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener and ethically-challenged Democratic Congressman William Jefferson got caught with his pants down…or in this case, with $90,000 in his freezer (yeah, I know…talk about cold, hard cash….). You would think that this would be enough to sentence Jefferson to a rousing defeat in the general election. Au contraire, mon ami….this is New Orleans we’re talking about here, where one man’s corruption is merely another’s creative financing.
Now Jefferson is facing with being a pariah in the Democratic Congressional Caucus, and his district will have for all practical purposes no effective representation. Apparently, Republican voters who reflexively voted for Our Glorious and Benevolent Leaders aren’t the only clueless sots with no standards, eh?
What’s truly amazing is the level of denial taking place in Jefferson’s district. Man, these folks make Bush stalwarts look like Ph.D.’s:
Supporters in the broken-down, crime-plagued Central City neighborhood here saw another picture: of a godly man persecuted by a racially biased government.
“There’s been no indictment; how can you say he’s guilty?” asked Brenda Dumas, clutching her Bible.
“Some call him a crook,” Ms. Dumas added. They say he’s corrupt. They have to prove that. To give up on somebody after all he’s done for us, that would be wrong.”
To the crowd streaming from Sunday services, the months of harsh headlines proved only Mr. Jefferson’s sanctity. His dignified mien, his church-going habits and omnipresent family entourage set the seal.
“I wouldn’t have voted for anybody else,” Johnnie Mae Patterson said. “He’s a God-sent man.”
Which, I suppose, only goes to prove that faith in God is no proof of intelligence or one’s ability to recognize and process abject reality.
Jeebus, people, does Jefferson have to be caught in flagrante delicto in order for you to grasp the undeniable reality that your “God-sent man” is nothing but a corrupt thug looking to line his own pockets?
Apparently so.
