William Jefferson (D-La)

[Storebought]

It will be a sad day when he is finally sent to prison for accepting bribes. Beyond that little blemish he is one of the few sane, economically conservative Democrats left in the House. And from New Orleans at that.

American Spectator

I'll only post the meat of the article:

For 15 years, Jefferson has lived up to these promises, consistently ranking above the average Democrat in ratings from various right-leaning interest groups. He consistently scores above 50 percent from the Chamber of Commerce. He often scores above 40 percent in ratings from the American Shareholders Association. His consistent rating of 20 percent from the Americans for Tax Reform isn't good, but most Democrats are worse than that. And for conservatives who believe in free trade, Jefferson has been splendid: He provided absolutely essential support for both NAFTA and CAFTA when both hung very much in the balance, and the libertarian Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies he scored 82 percent in 2003-04 and a terrific 88 percent in 1999-2000.

While this decade he has voted against President Bush's proposals to cut the capital gains tax rate, he has on record a host of votes in favor of cutting taxes on investments, especially (but not exclusively) for minority and other "disadvantaged" communities. He is one of the two lead House authors of a bill introduced last year to defer taxation of automatically reinvested capital gains until the shares are actually sold -- an important issue for the millions of Americans who have mutual-fund retirement accounts, who otherwise must pay taxes each year on capital gains that occur only on paper.

On other issues of interest to conservatives, Jefferson has voted for drilling in ANWR, consistently for strategic missile defense, in favor of allowing military recruitment on college campuses, for a slew of tax cuts for small businesses, in favor of authorizing military force in Iraq, for tax breaks for independent oil producers back in the 1990s, and for a federal Marriage Amendment. The pro-abortion NARAL group gives him only a 30 percent rating, in part because of his opposition to partial birth abortion.

Finally, Rep. Jefferson not only favors permanent repeal of the "death tax," but speaks eloquently on the subject. To wit, from the Congressional Record of April 13, 2005 (as discovered by my friend and fellow columnist Deroy Murdock):

"What was meant to bring short-term budgetary relief has become a permanent burden on America's farmers, small business owners and families.... There are many reasons to question the value of taxing the accumulated savings of productive, entrepreneurial citizens....Many families must watch their loved one's legacy being snatched away by the federal government at an agonizing time. This is tragically wrong and nullifies the hard work of those who have passed on. In the minority community there are numerous examples of the injurious effects of the estate tax....Permanent repeal of the estate tax will provide American families with fairness in our tax system and remove the perverse incentive that makes it cheaper for an individual to sell the business prior to death and pay the individual capital gains rate than pass it on to his heirs. But for minorities, it provides much more. It will allow wealth created in one generation to be passed on to the next, thereby establishing sustainable minority communities through better jobs and education, better healthcare, and safer communities."

I'll also bump this thread occasionally to post poll results and comments about Jefferson's primary challangers (all of them worthless, no doubt).

[WalterMitty]

hmm.  he sounds like a decent fellow.  how does the congressional black caucus feel about him? 

by the way, i dont think any person should go to prison for accepting bribes.  it is a waste of prison space.  make them mop up piss-puddles in the subway station.  but prison?  leave that for the violent criminals.

[Adlai Stevenson]

I very much agree with Walter Mitty.  In Britain, our prisons are simply overcrowded.  White-collar criminals should not be seen as getting off more easily, but a strong simple fine would do in the case of Jefferson. 

[Jake]

Accepting bribes shouldn't be illegal in the first place.

[CARLHAYDEN]

A lot of what is going on in the Jefferson case is symbolic.

First, Bush got the FBI to raid Jefferson's office in the House in an attempt to intimidate house members into rolling over for his amnesty proposal.  Remember how Speaker Hastert was more upset over this than the nominal head of the Democrats in the House, Nancy Pelosi?

Second, on the Democrat side, when the left used to defend Black political figures before, now they have shifted their preferred minority groups to homosexuals and hispanics.

[TheresNoMoney]

I hope Jefferson goes to jail and we can replace him with a decent Democrat.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

First, Bush got the FBI to raid Jefferson's office in the House in an attempt to intimidate house members into rolling over for his amnesty proposal. 

Don't ever call jfern a crazy conspiracy theorist ever again.

[GOP = Terrorists]

I hope Jefferson goes to jail and we can replace him with a decent Democrat.

I hope Jefferson goes to jail and we can replace him with a decent person.

[adam]

I hope this really sends a message to the elitist wing of the Democrats. Perhaps they are now aware that the corruption isn't all one sided as they would have you believe.

[Smash255]

A lot of what is going on in the Jefferson case is symbolic.

First, Bush got the FBI to raid Jefferson's office in the House in an attempt to intimidate house members into rolling over for his amnesty proposal.  Remember how Speaker Hastert was more upset over this than the nominal head of the Democrats in the House, Nancy Pelosi?

Second, on the Democrat side, when the left used to defend Black political figures before, now they have shifted their preferred minority groups to homosexuals and hispanics.

The reason Hastert was more upset is because he is possibily facing some legal problems of his own.

[Storebought]

State Sen. Derrick Shepherd, Bill Jefferson's former campaign staffer, will challange his old mentor in the November open primary

AP

I know practically nothing about this guy, so I can't make any comments.