I guess getting caught with $90 grand in the FBI's marked bills in your freezer isn't part of the "Culture of Corruption."
Jay Tea wants to know what Nancy Pelosi will do. She'll seat him, of course. Mr. Jefferson has nothing to worry about from Ms. Pelosi, who can't afford to upset the Congressional Black Caucus a second time, and the press will avoid following up on the story. It's only legitimately elected Republicans that they threaten not to seat.
12/10/06 1400: An interesting suggestion from Captain Ed:
My first thought was that the Democrats should refuse to seat him, but that wouldn't be the right thing to do. The voters elected the crook, and the crook should take his seat, until he's convicted of his corruption. The new Democratic leadership should not take a page from Denny Hastert, however, and act to protect Jefferson from completely legal searches of his offices. Democrats and Republicans alike should demand that Nancy Pelosi drop all efforts to keep the FBI from reviewing the material seized during that search, and encourage the FBI to continue its work in fighting corruption.
And then when he's convicted, the House should refuse to seat a replacement. The Democrats don't need the seat for their majority, and both parties should make it clear that consequences will follow from knowingly sending a corrupt politician back to Congress. That might discourage the "he's our crook" thinking in the future.
That'll never happen. David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo suggests something that I'll bet they'll consider, primarily because it stands a chance to gain them a seat in Congress.
So what to do? My own preferred solution would be a two-fer. The House should refuse to seat Jefferson and Rep.-elect Vern Buchanan (R-FL). Buchanan was elected to Katherine Harris' old seat thanks to 18,000 undervotes in the Sarasota area, without which his Democratic opponent Christine Jennings almost certainly wins.
Republicans are already gearing up for a partisan bloodbath if the Democratic-controlled House refuses to seat Buchanan, the certified winner of a flawed election. What better way to take some of the wind out of those arguments than by simultaneously refusing to seat Jefferson, the flawed winner of a certified election?
In that case it wouldn't be about doing what's right, but rather doing what gains you more power.
