Posted on 09/27/2005 7:05:46 AM PDT by SE Mom
Hearings beginning now on C-Span- Michael Brown will be grilled.
Have at it, folks:)
Brown is doing a great job....let's hear this fool Jefferson try and look like a hero...
He's trying to narrow the scope. I hope Brownie says "You have no room to complain, we lent you two trucks and a helicopter."
Does anyone believe that if Brown were anything other than a White Male, that this hearing would even be taking place?
Now we have one of the criminals, William Jefferson, questioning Brown. The inmates are running the asylum.
LMAO!!!! this is the New ORleans congress critter who diverted rescue helicopters to re-con his own home and remove stuff.
this is Representative William Jefferson
OMG- WHERE'S RUSH??? WAIT til he hears "William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana" is on the front lines here kicking back at Brown. ROFL!
Louisian Rep finds it stunning that Brown is blaming Blanco and Nagin. He is stuttering his question not knowing what to say.
I've got to step away from this. BigMommaTX is getting mad
at my yelling at Nagin, Blanco, Jesse, Al, Luis, AlG, Dean, West, Clinton1, Clinton2, Landreux...
They're all blinded by hate!!! They hate white Conservative
America!!! Simple as that.
Put me on an independent commission.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON ON THE COMMITTEE!!!????!!!!
Hey Billy, how's your back? I hope you didn't hurt it
carrying all that stuff to the NG truck.
I'm out
What is this guys point???
A guy from The New Republic and a writer for the Boston Herald leaned into Brown saying basically he is a souless smartass with no contrition or guilt...just spinning blaming the media for the problems and not taking blame for the biggest blunder in American history.
william brinkley was on joey scarbourough's show last night and basically said nagin is going through a mental breakdown.
Here we go.....Mr Jefferson on his high horse...should be intereting to see how Brown responds
Will the fine mayor and good governor be equally grilled?
I have to give Jefferson credit just for showing up...I bet the other Democrats are pissed at him
Rush will be primed and ready to go in 1 hour 20 minutes... I have my radio ready to go!!! Rush will be GREAT today.
Hope Brown tells Willie more people could have been saved more quickly had he not had the military take him to his house to recover valuable evidence.
Uhmmm...we'll have someone from the DNC get back to you on that question...
..and the rest of his strong representation overwhelms the whine, as you see it.
He was mercilessly maligned.....let him have a tiny whine!
You have to be kidding me!! What is William Jefferson doing there?
Jefferson left in political limbo by raids
All he can do now is wait, experts say
Sunday, August 07, 2005
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON -- When FBI agents raided his homes, car and his accountant's office last week, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, entered a political limbo of unknown duration and unknown consequences.
He joins two House colleagues, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Rep. Duke Cunningham, R-Calif., who, like Jefferson, are sweating through criminal probes.
It's an unenviable situation in which Jefferson, like his two Republican colleagues, must wait for the other shoe to drop -- a possible criminal indictment -- while trying to convince constituents he's continuing to represent them effectively.
Aides and friends say Jefferson, who was unavailable for comment, is trying his best to stay upbeat and continue his congressional duties as if last week's high-profile raids didn't happen.
But the wait for the prosecutors' next move can be pure hell, according to Mike McCurry. McCurry should know. He was President Clinton's press secretary while accusations flew that Clinton had lied when he testified he had not had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. But perhaps more relevant was McCurry's job fresh out of Princeton University as press secretary to Sen. Harrison Williams, D-N.J.
In 1978, Williams was named a participant in the Abscam scandal, a sting operation in which members of Congress, in exchange for political favors, were offered money by federal agents posing as Arab sheiks. It would be many months before federal prosecutors decided to indict the popular New Jersey senator.
"It was a tortured period when it was just unclear whether the Justice Department would indict, and all you could do is just continue doing the normal congressional work while all this speculation was out there," McCurry said. Ultimately, Williams, who insisted on his innocence until his death in 2001, was indicted, convicted, sentenced to three years in jail and forced to give up his Senate seat.
A survivable storm
But political analysts say that being subject to a high-profile investigation isn't necessarily enough to cause long-term political harm.
DeLay, the GOP majority leader, retains strong support from the House Republican caucus, despite harsh criticism from Democrats for taking a trip to Scotland apparently financed by controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff, in possible violation of House rules. His political action committee has also been subject of a 32-month investigation by a Texas prosecutor into alleged fund-raising irregularities.
If this bothers DeLay, he doesn't show it. Just before Congress recessed, DeLay got credit from the Bush administration for combining the right balance of inducements and threats to overcome intense opposition and secure the GOP votes needed to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
"We're now at a point where a congressman has to be indicted and convicted for an offense like this to end his career," University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said.
Sabato said he thinks Jefferson will retain his support with most New Orleans voters, unless prosecutors charge him with a crime and win a conviction on charges that are not considered trivial.
"Until then, I doubt this has a major effect on Jefferson," Sabato said. "He is the duly elected congressman for his district, and most other politicians will say, 'Let's see what happens,' and, 'There but for the grace of God . . .' As for the negative publicity, the best road to take is full, swift disclosure of the truth. Get it over with quickly."
Self-discipline crucial
Jefferson is the second member of Congress to be subject to FBI raids this summer. Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., whose yacht and California home were raided several weeks before records and other materials from Jefferson were secured by FBI agents, has already announced he won't seek re-election next year.
Federal investigators are probing whether Cunningham steered military work to a contractor who bought his California home and then quickly sold it for $700,000 less than what he paid the lawmaker, and whose Washington, D.C., yacht served as Cunningham's rent-free home while Congress was in session.
"Coming on the heels of Randy Cunningham, this idea of FBI raids seems like déjà vu all over again," said Norm Ornstein, political analyst for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "Allegations of sweetheart deals are damaging. FBI raids are more so. A member can operate for a while under this kind of cloud if he/she is internally tough and disciplined and has his/her colleagues rally behind with an innocent-until-proven-guilty mantra."
Hank Braden, a New Orleans lawyer and former Louisiana state senator who is a longtime friend of Jefferson's, said being under a federal probe's microscope would be hard on anyone.
"But Bill Jefferson is very cool, levelheaded and very intelligent, and he is going to handle this very well," said Braden, who predicts that the eight-term congressman will continue with an active schedule. His staff said he's proceeding with a trade trip to Brazil this week with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
"But he's also not going to sit idly by," Braden said. "He's going to demand that they come up with specifics and say what the hell he allegedly did wrong. He's a member of Congress. He's a sitting congressman. This can't go on for years."
Unlike in the cases of Cunningham and DeLay, any alleged wrongdoing by Jefferson hasn't been revealed publicly.
A curveball
One complicating factor could be the expected departure of Noel Hillman, the chief of the Justice Department's public integrity section, which is conducting the Jefferson probe. Hillman is expected to be nominated by President Bush for a district court judge post in his native New Jersey, according to published reports. Under a deal with New Jersey's two Democratic senators, he's likely to win confirmation by October.
Hillman is a tough but fair prosecutor, said Mark Corallo, the press secretary to President Bush's first-term Attorney General John Ashcroft. He won't let a case drag on any longer than necessary, Corallo said. But whether the case will be completed before Hillman joins the federal judiciary is unknown.
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:3IjQSQByPokJ:www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf%3F/base/news-4/1123398360230310.xml+william+jefferson+louisiana+indictment&hl=en
The Dems in the House have a great opportunity to rip into Brown at this hearing
Yet they are no where to be found
They are Boycotting
Why????
Because they are afraid of the truth
I don't know where they got those two idiots that just trashed Brown, but they are trying to cover the media's huge a$$. He nailed them on how they kept Fema tied up with questions about accusations about his credentials, when there were jobs to do and lives to save. The MSm scums have a lot to answer for and they are not going to admit responsibility for anything without a huge fight.
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