An FBI agent who took part in the raid four years ago described Mr. Jefferson's response after he was shown a videotape of himself taking the briefcase of money from the government's informant.
Mr. Jefferson, he said, "looked very dejected, sunk back into the couch and started saying, "What a waste. What a waste."
Indeed: a waste of intellect, a waste of his position and a waste of the public's trust.
UPDATE: Jeffrey notes that Dollar Bill was acquitted of the charge directly related to the freezer cash. Interesting ...
What we knew all along is now official ... former Congressman Bill Jefferson is a crook. The jury in his federal corruption case voted to find him guilty of 11 of the 16 counts of public corruption that the U.S. Attorney charged him with.
Sentencing is not until October 30th, but Dollar Bill is looking at a minimum of 20 years in prison.
It's sad to see a public official that was entrusted with the people's business to succumb to the temptations of power. Hopefully, this conviction will serve as a warning to the rest of our elected officials.
No, the debts listed for both candidates are NOT mis-prints. The difference between the two, however is stark: Harlan owes that money to himself, as he loaned his campaign that money. Scalise, on the other hand owes that money to other people ... staff, vendors, and even the caterer for his victory party, to whom he owes some $9,000. Must have been one hell of a party.
Mr. Troy Carter is not a serious candidate. The debt is partly from his failed run back in 2006, where he placed fourth in the jungle primary behind the Republican. I've corrected the amount raised this quarter from his FEC report. If you click on his name, it'll bring you to his July Quarterly FEC report, where he reports NO money raised this quarter. But if you take a look at his April Quarterly report, you'll see that he only reported some $2,188 raised in the election cycle to date column, and nothing again in the this cycle to date column. Mr. Carter, please find someone to teach your staff how to fill out the reports properly!
Mr. Lee has raised an impressive amount. As one of twothe only viable West Banker's in the race, he has a good shot of taking second place in primary, and making it to the runoff, so long as he can turn out a majority of the West Bank for him.
The debts that Mr. Jefferson owes are personal debts of his to MBNA America, American Express, Dryades Savings Bank, and Liberty Bank, as well as some to himself. Hasn't the man ever heard of fiscal responsibility?
Well, with Ms. Moreno (potentially Mrs. Bernazzani?) making a run for LA-02 but putting signs all over Uptown, including in the LA-01 portion of New Orleans, I wonder if she's really serious about making this run. Is this perhaps a prelude to running for Mayor of our fair city in 2010, especially now that Mr. Bernazzani is prohibited from doing so by the City Charter. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot ... the FEC doesn't know what party Ms. Moreno is a member of. If you enter Moreno into the field on that page just linked to, it'll bring you to all the Moreno's that have filed with them. The first one is our very own Helena Moreno ... the UNK after LA means unknown!
The debt is money that Mr. Richmond gave his campaign. For a first-time candidate for the U.S. House, the first quarter fundraising for Mr. Richmond is impressive. Almost $200,000 in the bank. Right now, he has to be one of the favorites to oust Congressman Jefferson.
There are two candidates that have yet to file an FEC report, as they are not required to do so at this time, as they were not raising money prior to the June 30th deadline - former Nagin aide Kenya Smith, and City Councilman James Carter. As reader SM points out, James Carter is a West Banker himself. That's the reason for the changes in the blurb about Byron Lee.
LA-03
There's no need to keep tabs on Congressman Melancon's fund-raising, as he has no race. He does have a cool $1,042,583.14 sitting in the bank. There is speculation that he will parlay that money to make a run against Sinator Vitter, although my colleague Oyster points out a very, very disappointing video of the erstwhile Congressman taken over the weekend.
With six weeks remaining before the qualifying period begins - July 9th - 11th - the race to vanquish Congressman William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson has started to heat up quite a bit. Let's take a look at all the candidates ... starting with those that have moved beyond the "I'm looking at my options stage":
Bill Jefferson (D): Regardless of his indictment for corruption, the man is in the race at press time. Whether any of the candidates I discuss below will hinge, I believe, on whether any of them would be willing to hit him harder than his opponents did back in '06. Hell, where to start? How about starting with the late great Ashley Morris' post entitled, "How to Defeat Bill Jefferson." Ashley hit the nail on the head ... if you want to win, you're going to have to point out all those things about Mr. Jefferson. I think the strongest point of attack would be to hit the fact that Jefferson no longer has a committee vote, nor does he sit on the Ways and Means committee any longer, which means he can no longer bring home the bacon that New Orleans so desperately needs. Hell, even the non-voting D.C. Rep, Eleanor Norton, has a committee vote! It's sad, really ... could you imagine the money a tag-team of Jefferson and Landrieu working their respective chambers could have brought home?
Karen Carter-Peterson (D): Ms. Carter-Peterson is currently the Speaker Pro Tempore in the House, and she represents HD 93, which covers parts of the Garden District, St. Thomas, Central City, Mid-City, CBD, Treme, the Fairgrounds, and the 7th Ward. She lost the run-off to Jefferson back in 2006, presumably because she got stuck with the "white" candidate label in the run-off, despite the fact that she is a black woman. For more on this, head on over to the Yellow Man's blog.
Helena Moreno (D): She is the former WDSU-TV morning anchor ... she apparently has a campaign team in place, according to the Gambit Weekly's Scuttlebutt. I don't know enough about those folks to evaluate whether they're good or not, I just know they are on the ground working.
Byron L. Lee (D): You just knew that there were going to be a West Banker in this thing ... and this time, it's Mr. Lee, who is currently a Councilman for District 3 in Jefferson Parish, which, from the map provided by the Jefferson Parish Council, includes Terrytown, Gretna, Marrero, Harvey, Westwego and Kenner. The question here is whether the West Bank will vote for one of their own, rather than anyone else running, which is another reason why Jefferson was able to slip into a run-off last time, if I recall correctly.
Cedric Richmond (D): He's a State Legislator representing HD 101, which is New Orleans East. He's done some good, some questionable, and has a campaign manager. He's in his final term in the State House.
Now for those looking at it ...
Juan LaFonta (D): He was recently elected to his first full term in the State House, after having been elected to fill out someone else's term in 2005. He represents HD 96. If anyone knows whose term he filled out, please let me know. Lafonta is currently the Chair of the Black Legislative Caucus in the House.
And finally, those definitely NOT running:
Derrick Shepherd (D): This is no suprise, considering that he has been indicted by the US Attorney's office for helping a convicted felon launder money. He did finish 3rd in the jungle primary back in 2006.
