"Culture of corruption"
 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - 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, D-La., 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

Jefferson has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing.

As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather briefcase last July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington. The plan was for the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official — the name is blacked out in the court document — to ensure the success of a business deal in that country, the affidavit said.

All but $10,000 was recovered on Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jefferson’s home in Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and concealed in food containers and aluminum foil.

Two of Jefferson’s associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in federal court in Alexandria. One, businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange for his help securing business deals for Jackson’s telecommunications company in Nigeria and other African countries.



pMSNBC

When the media whispers it, nobody hears it...Agenda?....Nahhhhhhhhh.

I don't know about whispers. The guy's face is on the MSN homepage with a link to the story. I didn't watch network news today.

Throwing the story on a website or covering it for a couple of brief watered down minutes at the back of a newshour is a far cry from the treatment Cunningham got. Interestingly it appears the crimes of Jefferson far surpass Cunningham's, yet the Jefferson story is muffled and turned down to a whisper...Toricceli was handled similarly.

Culture of corruption indeed, made worse with the media running public relations and defense...When the larger portion of the media promote and defend a political party you start heading down the path Orwell warned us against.

"The media, I think, want Kerry to win. And I think they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards - I’m talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but - they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there’s going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that’s going to be worth maybe 15 points.” -- Evan Thomas (Newsweak)

Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a rising star in the party, is considering a Senate bid for the Maryland seat being vacated by Democrat Paul Sarbanes next year. Apparently threatened by the prospect of a strong, popular, black Republican candidate, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee got down and dirty. Two of Schumer's staffers on the committee, including a former top researcher for David Brock's left-wing "think tank," obtained Steele's confidential credit report by using his Social Security number, which they had reportedly culled from court records.

Under federal law, it is illegal to knowingly and willfully obtain a credit report under false pretenses. The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act imposes a maximum two-year prison sentence for the crime.


And liberals want you to believe they care about domestic surveillance?....They are the worst and most fascistic practitioners of it.

I think the Reps want Hillary to win the nomination. Just recently Rep NY Gov and another old NY Rep Senator were saying nice things about Hillary. I guss it's their job to help her keep her Sen seat.

More than you could ever imagine.