Pelosi's First Test

Nancy Pelosi is going to have her hands full if she intends to fulfill her promise to end the “culture of corruption” that is pervasive on Capitol Hill. Her first test will be handling the recently re-elected Rep. “Dollar” Bill Jefferson (D, LA).

You might remember Jefferson as the example of Democratic corruption that was used at every opportunity by the right wing during the general election season. During every discussion of the moral vacancy of Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, or Jack Abramoff; the Republicans stood at the ready with the tale of Rep. Jefferson and the freezer full of bribes from lobbyists that was discovered during a borderline legal raid by the FBI.

On 30 July 2005, Jefferson was videotaped by the FBI allegedly receiving $100,000 worth of 100 dollar bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Jefferson told an investor, Lori Mody, who was wearing a wire, that he would need to give Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar $500,000 “as a motivating factor” to make sure they obtained contracts for iGate and Mody’s company in Nigeria. A few days later, on 3 August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson’s home in Northeast Washington and, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, “found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers.” Serial numbers found on the currency in the freezer matched serial numbers of funds given by the FBI to their informant.

While serving as Minority Leader, Ms. Pelosi took the remarkable step of leading the efforts to strip Rep. Jefferson of his committee assignments until the investigation was completed.

While the evidence against Rep. Jefferson is voluminous, it appears the good people of Louisiana have seen fit to return Rep. Jefferson to Congress after easily winning a spirited runoff election against State Rep. Karen Carter.

If there is one state that can top New York’s culture of political corruption it’s Louisiana; home of Huey Long, David Duke, Edwin Edwards and hundreds of others. Corruption is worn as a badge of honor in Louisiana, so, it’s no surprise to this former Louisiana resident that Jefferson was returned to Congress.

However, I suspect Jefferson’s re-election comes as a bit of a surprise to the new Democratic majority in Washington. How Ms. Pelosi deals with his return to Congress will be a measure of how serious the Democrats really are when it comes to ethics reform. Once the indictment is inevitably handed down, how will Ms. Pelosi handle a member of Congress who refuses to resign his committee assignments or his office?

It will be the first test of the Democratic Congress and the reaction of leadership will have a major influence on the 2008 election season.