Jefferson refuses to step down

On May 20 the FBI carried out the first-ever raid on the office of a U.S. member of Congress, the office of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). The FBI leaked word of the raid on the office of the eight-term congressperson, the first Black representative elected to the House from Louisiana since the era of Black Reconstruction after the Civil War. The highly-publicized and unprecedented police-state measure was carried out in connection with a bribery sting operation in which the FBI alleges that Jefferson took funds to promote the interests of a small Kentucky technology firm seeking business in Nigeria and Ghana.

Shortly after the raid, Nancy Pelosi, (D-Calif.), House minority leader, asked Jefferson to step down from his position as a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Pelosi did this despite opposition by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to this racist move, which is a violation of precedent. Jefferson refused to step down, declaring his innocence, and basing his refusal on the fact that no charges have been brought against him and that his removal would violate Party rules and precedent.

Pelosi then called a meeting of the Democratic Party leadership steering committee, which voted against Jefferson and moved to refer the matter to the rank-and-file House membership of the party. Mel Watt, CBC member (D-NC) moved to have the vote postponed for five days and read a CBC statement denouncing the decision.

The CBC declared that Jefferson was entitled to “a presumption of innocence” and opposed measures “to force Rep. Jefferson to resign from Congress or to remove him involuntarily from his position on the Ways and Means Committee in the absence of precedents that have been historically applied…” (AP, June 9).

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), a CBC member, added that if action is taken only against someone who “is a Black member of Con gress, then our community will legitimately ask, ‘What in the world are you doing?’”

Pelosi said that she wanted Jefferson removed in order to “uphold the highest ethical standards.” Corruption thrives everywhere in the capitalist establishment, from the White House on down. Yet instead of standing up to the racist singling out of a prominent African American legislator from New Orleans, Pelosi immediately jumped on the FBI/Republican bandwagon in order to save the Demo cratic Party strategy of “running against corruption” in 2006.

Meanwhile, Rep. Allan Mullohan (D-VA), was not asked by Pelosi or the Democratic Party leadership to step down from his position on the powerful House Committee, despite the fact that he is under suspicion for funneling millions of dollars through the appropriation process to foundations that he established and to non-profits run by his cousin (Washington Times, June 1).

There have been no FBI raids on Mollohan’s office. Pelosi asked him to resign from the Ethics Committee but not from the Appropriations Committee, which is the committee through which he is accused of enriching himself.

Below is the text of a letter written by William Jefferson to Nancy Pelosi responding to her request for him to resign his committee post.

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

Leader Pelosi:

I have received your letter of this date requesting my immediate resignation from the Ways and Means Committee. With respect, I decline to do so.

Through my committee position and since this federal investigation became public, I have secured over $20 billion in tax credits and federal funds for my district after Hurricane Katrina. I authored the GO ZONE Act, the Katrina Public Finance Act, and the Katrina Tax Relief Act, along with my colleague Jim McCrery, which all resulted in massive tax relief for families, seniors, government agencies and businesses in the hurricane-affected region. All of these matters fall within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee.

Additionally, my committee covers trade, which is important the Port of New Orleans. My work on the committee has been important to our port’s recovery after the storm.

None of the matters reported to be under scrutiny involve issues under jurisdiction of the Ways and Means committee. Therefore, such a request would be even more perplexing and unreasonable. If I agreed, it would unfairly punish the people of the 2nd district and I will not stand for that.

Further, such a request would be discriminatory, in as much as no other Member currently under federal investigation has been asked to step down from a substantive, legislative committee assignment. It would also be unprecedented, in as much as I have served with Members who have been indicted, tried and won their cases, and who were never asked to step aside from their committee assignments during those processes.

Therefore, I will not give up a committee assignment that is so vital to New Orleans at this crucial time for any uncertain political strategy.

Sincerely,
William J. Jefferson
Member of Congress