House Dems Strip Jefferson of Assignment

[Bonnie]

As much as I hate to agree with the Black caucus on this, they are right, Jefferson is being made an example of by Pelosi and the Dems, he is the sacrificial lamb.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/15/215731.shtml?s=ic

House Democrats, determined to make an election-year point about ethics, voted 99-58 Thursday night to strip Rep. William Jefferson of his committee assignment while a federal bribery investigation runs its course.

The rank and file acted despite a last-minute plea by the embattled Louisiana lawmaker and persistent complaints from the Congressional Black Caucus that there was neither rule nor precedent for the action.

Jefferson has not been indicted and maintains his innocence. In remarks to reporters, he conceded that "serious allegations" swirl around him.

After weeks of defiance, he also left open the possibility that he might at last surrender the seat voluntarily before the issue reaches the House floor for final action. "I don't want to speculate," he said.




"I wish the White House would follow our lead on this," she added. Democrats have vowed to make ethics a cornerstone of their campaign for control of the House this fall and have repeatedly accused Republicans of presiding over a "culture of corruption."

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, is a member of the Democratic leadership as well as the black caucus, said the rank and file had confronted "two competing interests — the legal interest and the political interest."

Earlier, Pelosi brushed aside criticism, telling reporters at a news conference she had been "more than fair."

The FBI claims that it videotaped the Louisiana Democrat last summer taking $100,000 in bribe money and that agents later found $90,000 of the funds stashed in a freezer in his home. Two men have pleaded guilty in the probe, including a former aid to the congressman and a businessman who admitted paying bribes to the lawmaker.




The issue has left many lawmakers torn. Several black lawmakers have appealed privately to Jefferson, who is black, to step aside from the Ways and Means Committee voluntarily.
The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Melvin Watt of North Carolina, said after the vote that by taking the action they did, fellow Democrats chose "political expediency" or some other unacceptable factor over precedent. "Even at the end of the meeting, we don't know what the standard has been," he said.
Watt said that constituents of some lawmakers will adopt the view that race was a factor in the decision. "I think there are people who will say that's the basis," he said. Blacks are among the Democrats' most loyal voters.

Democrats earlier in the evening rejected a call to sidetrack the proceedings until a rule had been adopted to cover situations like his. Rep. Steven Rothman, D-N.J., said he sought the step because without rules, the action was "extraordinarily arbitrary."

Pelosi asked Jefferson last month to give up his seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee voluntarily, pending completion of the investigation. When he refused, she resolved to force him off, saying that Democrats would set the bar as high as possible for conduct by a lawmaker.

The black caucus issued a statement last week invoking the Constitution's guarantee of "the presumption of innocence" and opposed the effort to force him off the committee.

Some black Democrats went further, warning that the party risked alienating black voters if it required Jefferson to surrender his committee seat until his legal situation is clarified.

Pelosi granted several interviews last week to reporters from black newspapers and radio stations in an attempt to rebut her critics.

At her weekly news conference several hours before the vote, she said she had been "more than fair" in terms of opposing an FBI raid on Jefferson's his congressional office, supporting his court brief to get his records back, giving him time.

She added, "This would have been done in an instant if I were not trying to be more than fair with him."

 

[Gunny]

As much as I hate to agree with the Black caucus on this, they are right, Jefferson is being made an example of by Pelosi and the Dems, he is the sacrificial lamb.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/15/215731.shtml?s=ic

Once again, the Dem's trying to pass themselves off as Republicans.

 

[Bonnie]

Once again, the Dem's trying to pass themselves off as Republicans.

Im not so sure this is going to play out well for the Dems either.

 

[Gunny]

Im not so sure this is going to play out well for the Dems either.

No, it won't. In stripping Jefferson of his committee assignment, they are trying to show they are "just as tough as the Republicans."

But how much you want to bet this gets nowhere near the play in the MSM Trent Lott's blown-out-of-any-proportion-to-reality ouster or Tom Delay's second round of the same accusations got?

 

[insein]

If they were that tough then they should have done it right away. But it did get done. Im suprised they even had enough stomach to do this much. What with the "ever so important black vote" being needed for the elections.

Point is, despite the initial cowardice by Pelosi and the sticking of their finger in the proverbial wind to see which way to go on this, the right thing was done.

 

[Dr Grump]

What was blown out of proportion re Trent Lott. Was he misquoted?

 

[Mr.Conley]

He's my Congressman. I can personally assure you that he deserves whatever he gets.