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Posted on 01/16/2006 7:56:28 PM PST by caryatid
Can we see the problem here? While our congressmen are trying to convince their peers that Louisiana government officials are honest enough and skilled enough to handle billions of dollars of hurricane aid money for New Orleans and elsewhere, the congressman who represents the Crescent City is trying to explain away a bundle of cash investigators found in his freezer.
At the same time, a huge fight is erupting in Baton Rouge among politicians over who will get to touch the federal money as it passes into the state.
The cynical reading of that scenario is, of course, that money can't stick to your hands if you don't at least touch it.
Congressional Republicans have pounced on the case involving Rep. William J. Jefferson, both as evidence of Louisiana corruption and of Democratic disingenuousness. They say congressional Democrats are trying to downplay the Jefferson allegations while at the same time pressing for ethics investigations of Republicans tied to Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who pleaded guilty to corruption charges. On Wednesday, Brett M. Pfeffer pleaded guilty in a federal court in Virginia to two bribery counts related to a business deal to provide high-speed Internet service and cable television in Nigeria. Pfeffer said "a lawmaker" asked for bribes before using his powers to promote that deal and a similar one in Ghana.
The representative is not named in the plea agreement but it does say that Pfeffer served as this congressman's assistant from 1995 through 1998. That's when he worked for Jefferson, who has represented since 1990 a large part of New Orleans and the surrounding area devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Pfeffer admitted in court that the congressman he worked for demanded a 5 to 7 percent stake in two companies that were to be formed in conjunction with the telecommunications deals.
In exchange for the stake, Jefferson was to promote the deal to high-ranking Nigerian officials and also lobbied for the Export-Import Bank of the United States to provide loans, prosecutors said.
The charges stem from an investigation that became public in August when the FBI raided Jefferson's home and, according to published reports, carted off cash from a freezer.
Jefferson was criticized after Hurricane Katrina for receiving a National Guard escort to check on his flooded home - and remove "important documents" - at a time when federal resources were sorely strained.
Pfeffer and Jefferson will be properly judged for any wrongdoing in the legal system. But the damage done in the court of public opinion at a time critical to Louisiana's future is incalculable - particularly in Washington.
These revelations are yet another obstacle thrown across Louisiana's road to recovery by what appears to be one more example of greed trumping public service.
We realize it is unfair to tar every government official with the same brush. But how can we as a state continue to claim there is no pattern of corruption when our politicians keep proving otherwise?
This continued chicanery makes all Louisiana officials - in the reverse of the American way - guilty until proven innocent, particularly in the eyes of those who hold the purse strings that are so important to us all.
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Yes, but for Louisiana politicians, there is no point in getting funds other than the chicanery!
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