Court Filing Says (Democrat) Lawmaker Caught on Tape Taking $100,000

[LiberalHeart]

ALEXANDRIA (AP) -- A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court document released Sunday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat from Lousiana, chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's deal for work in Africa. As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the lawmaker's family might receive, the congressman "began laughing and said, 'All these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI is watching,'" according to the affidavit.

More:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=4931264

[Poll_Blind]

1. If a jury finds him guilty, THROW HIS ASS IN JAIL.

A corrupt politican does no one any good.

PB

[LiberalHeart]

2. Amen (n/t)

[Epiphany4z]

4. I agree

and kick him a few times for being such a dumb ass when Dem's need the moral high ground. I mean you don't fight a culture of corruption by joining in....dee da dee.

[Kenergy]

13. I concur n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

25. Absolutely! nt

[ShockediSay]

38. cash in freezer? maybe it was for toll booths

I don't believe it

but I do believe it's time for distance

[jsamuel]

40. No room in this party for crooks.

[struggle4progress]

47. Ya'd think they'd charge him if they had the goods on him, but

he hasn't been charged yet, although the freezer-fulla-cash story has been floating around since last August.

Maybe they're waitin until closer to the election ...

[stepnw1f]

3. Buh Bye William

We don't need corruption in our party. Get the hell out by resigning.

[regnaD kciN]

46. Too late...

Don't you see? This just proves, in the mind of the average American, that "everybody does it," and no party is better or worse than the other. :eyes:

So, like it or not, corruption is now a non-issue for this election cycle. :-(

[bowens43]

5. nail him to the wall

[Ezlivin]

6. This shows that corruption is affecting Democrats/Repubs evenly

Hah!

That's what Fox News will have us believe.

There's probably a 1:100 ratio of corrupt Dems to corrupt Repubs.

And if he's guilty, he's guilty and needs to serve time.

Now for the rest of these corrupt mfer's.....

[Kagemusha]

7. Sounds like the informant needed a superhuman effort to avoid...

blowing the case by simply laughing his ass off out loud when Rep. Jefferson made the "as if the FBI is watching" comment.

This should go into "Famous Last Words".

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. Well, isn't that special.

Are there any politicians left who aren't crooked? Gotta wonder.

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. "Are there any politicians left who aren't crooked?" - Sadly, I think NO

.
.
.

And that would include most of the politicians in my own country

We are getting "americanized"

NOT a good thing IMO

(sigh)

[LA lady]

9. I said so a while ago

:grr:

This is no secret here. Why oh Why didn't he resign long ago and spare us some of this!!

The video during Katrina was bad, now it gets worse.

[truthisfreedom]

10. throw him to the freepers.

even they deserve a laugh now and again.

[skids]

21. LoL. No, lower him in slowly on a hook. n/t

[NanceGreggs]

11. Louisiana Democrats ...

... should bombard this guy's office with letters, emails, faxes, etc. demanding he resign. And make a SHOW of it - contact newspapers, picket his office, call local TV stations.

We should show Republicans that when we find a rat in OUR midst, we DON'T find excuses for his behaviour - we GET RID OF HIM.

[CHICKEN CAPITOL USA]

41. Louisiana Politics is as dirty as it gets- and will remain so

The most famous Louisiana Politician was governor Huey P. Long-
Shot dead on the steps of the Capitol in Baton Rouge.
even so, the ever "corrupt" Huey P. Long was a great man-
The greatest leader Louisiana may heve ever had-
but Huey Long's actons had the best interest of the "common" people at heart
...and he sure helped the poor-
that is without question--

--I doubt the same could be said for this William Jefferson slime--

[cobalt1999]

12. what's refreshing is...

everyone here is not tolerant of the behavior even if he is a democrat. The republicans would circle the wagons and talk about a frame up or excuse the crime.

[muryan]

14. agreed

we dont encourage this kind of behavoir, whereas the freepers...

[acmavm]

15. Fry his ass just like any other corrupt politician. He knows how hard it

is for dems the past few years. So he should get hit especially hard.

[Spangle]

16. This is Sad!

Democrats should know better. THey can not DO these things and get away with it. They see others do it and they that they can get away with it.. cause 'everyone' does it and gets away with it.

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! To stupid to be in office!

[Rowdyboy]

17. Show some class....RESIGN NOW! You're an embarrassment, sir

[Old and In the Way]

18. If he's guilty, throw him in jail.

There has always been freelancers who'll benefit from public service. But the Republican Party has institutionalized it.

[NoodleyAppendage]

20. WHAT A DUMBASS. Took money at same time Abramoff was hitting the fan.

Thanks, William Jefferson! You just gave the Repukes a clarion call to tout your video as support for their stupid "Dems are just as corrupt as Repukes" campaign.

J

[Orsino]

22. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Investigate, indict and imprison!

[Peace Patriot]

23. $100,000? Peanuts in BushWorld. Why aren't they going after the

really big looters--who are stealing billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars, from our federal coffers, from our state coffers, from all of us, and who are putting us in hock to the tune of $10 TRILLION dollars, in order to lard Bushite military contractors, and Bushite energy predators, and Bushite electronic voting machine corporations, and the super-rich?

Piss on this minor player if you want to--IF he is guilty--but just remember WHO controls our very purged and Bush-saluting FBI, and WHO is spying on everybody in the country, and is more than likely blackmailing and/or setting up all sorts of people, good and bad, for all sorts of diabolical reasons. And don't believe everything you read.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

24. I wonder if this is related to him using NG after Katrina?

[LiberalHeart]

27. What NG? (n/t)

[dweller]

28. National Guard n/t

n/t = no thread also.

dp

[LiberalHeart]

31. Oh. Duh. Thanks...

I use n/t for "no text" in case someone's just skimming the subject lines.

[Stargleamer]

26. Strange really how DU'ers respond to corruption....

from a Democrat (Jefferson) compared to how Freepers respond to corruption from a Republican (DeLay & others). DU'ers here seem to be saying here "throw his ass in jail", whereas the Freepers say "Ronnie Earle's a Democrat!!", etc.

[Robb]

29. Transcript:

DEAR MR. JEFFERSON,

HAVING CONSULTED WITH MY COLLEAGUES AND BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE NIGERIAN CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE TO TRANSFER THE SUM OF $47,500,000.00 (FORTY SEVEN MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) INTO YOUR ACCOUNTS. THE ABOVE SUM RESULTED FROM AN OVER-INVOICED CONTRACT, EXECUTED COMMISSIONED AND PAID FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS (5) AGO BY A FOREIGN CONTRACTOR. THIS ACTION WAS HOWEVER INTENTIONAL AND SINCE THEN THE FUND HAS BEEN IN A SUSPENSE ACCOUNT AT THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA APEX BANK.

WE ARE NOW READY TO TRANSFER THE FUND OVERSEAS AND THAT IS WHERE YOU COME IN. IT IS IMPORTANT TO INFORM YOU THAT AS CIVIL SERVANTS, WE ARE FORBIDDEN TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT; THAT IS WHY WE REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE. THE TOTAL SUM WILL BE SHARED AS FOLLOWS: 70% FOR US, 25% FOR YOU AND 5% FOR LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPENSES INCIDENT TO THE TRANSFER.

THE TRANSFER IS RISK FREE ON BOTH SIDES. I AM AN ACCOUNTANT WITH THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC). IF YOU FIND THIS PROPOSAL ACCEPTABLE, WE SHALL REQUIRE THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

(A) YOUR BANKER'S NAME, TELEPHONE, ACCOUNT AND FAX NUMBERS.

(B) YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBERS -- FOR CONFIDENTIALITY AND EASY COMMUNICATION.

(C) YOUR LETTER-HEADED PAPER STAMPED AND SIGNED.

ALTERNATIVELY WE WILL FURNISH YOU WITH THE TEXT OF WHAT TO TYPE INTO YOUR LETTER-HEADED PAPER, ALONG WITH A BREAKDOWN EXPLAINING, COMPREHENSIVELY WHAT WE REQUIRE OF YOU. THE BUSINESS WILL TAKE US THIRTY (30) WORKING DAYS TO ACCOMPLISH.

PLEASE REPLY URGENTLY.

BEST REGARDS

[rayofreason]

30. Good one!!!!

But believe it or not, some folks actually fall for those 411 scams.

[Tight_rope]

34. Actually it's called "419"!

And you are right...alot of greedy dumbass fell for that scam.

[rayofreason]

35. 419...

...you are correct, of course. Digital dyslexia on my part.

If you want to see something funny related to the 419 stuff, check out http://www.419eater.com/

[goclark]

32. If charges are true ~ he should be jailed!

I will not defend this Brother!

[Tight_rope]

33. What a dumbass...What was he thinking? Just what democrats needed!

[VaYallaDawg]

36. I really groan when I see this stuff happening.

As I was reading the article in the paper this morning, all I could think was, "please don't let it be a Democrat." But then I got to the jump page on the article, and there it was.

[Milspec]

48. I also groan...

I groan when I see this stuff happening with ether a "D" OR a "R" next to the name. Its disheartening how many elected officials have such low character.

[superconnected]

37. Take him away. Exactly what we don't need.

[Zodiak]

39. What is his voting record?

Is he one of those southern Democrats that vote for Repukes time and again under the guise that he is just representing a conservative constituency?

I would like to know the answer to this question.

[Freddie Stubbs]

43. 82% lifetime liberal voting record according to ADA

http://www.adaction.org/ho00020.htm

[Zodiak]

45. That is not very good.

Landrieu is rated 95% on ADA, Feinstein is rated the same.

I need the record....the specific votes on the specific issues. No one is my research monkey, though...I'll do it myself.

Thank you, though. I appreciate the work.

ON EDIT: voted for CAFTA
voted to not make internet political speech public speech
voted for stem cell research
voted NO on the Patriot act reauthorization
voted NO to the class action bill (took away class action lawsuits)
voted NO on the real ID act
voted NO to taking away liability in medical malpractice
voted no on the firarm manufacturer protection bill
voted NO on UN reform
voted YES on the Cheney Energy Bill
voed YES to remove MTBE from being included in EPA protection
voted NO on drilling in the Arctic
voted YES on flag desecration resolution
voted NO on the budget reconciliation (stealing from all to give rich tax cuts)


He seems to check out as a 70% progressive from looking at all of his votes over the last year. Good enough, by my personal requirements.

[earth mom]

42. Not surprised-most of Congress is on the take.

They are working for Corporations-NOT for the people. :mad:

As evidenced by all the shit they've done to us the past several years. :puke:

We need to clean house like yesterday! :grr:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

44. Imagine if we could get rid of all the corrupt politicians and start over

with a fresh crop. A new crop that saw the old corrupt ones all go to prison for their crimes.

Do you think they'd be less inclined to fall victim to the easy money of pay-offs? What do you say we start prosecuting and find out?

[Milspec]

49. Ya, Imagine........However

There is absolutely no historical record of this happening , ......well basically no were, ever