Ah yes, sweeping away "the culture of corruption"....riiiiggghhhtt!! - Granite Grok

Ah yes, sweeping away “the culture of corruption”….riiiiggghhhtt!!

CNN reports:

Congressional Black Caucus gives Jefferson standing ovation

WASHINGTON (CNN) — On the same day that the 110th Democratic-led Congress convenes with a plan to immediately pass lobbyist and ethics reforms, the Congressional Black Caucus ("CBC") Thursday gave a standing ovation to Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who faces an FBI probe into bribery allegations.
This is the guy that has already lost staffers to corruption / bribery charges.  This is the guy that all but commandeered a National Guard truck so that he could get "important papers" out of his house (in New Orleans) during Katrina (see previous sentence).  This is the guy who really had "cold cash" – $90K hidden in his freezer.
This is the Congressional Black Caucus that has refused membership to whites even though the majority of their voters are black – all they wanted to to was to associate with a group that would help the people that put them into office.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made it clear that she will run things differently.  Yet, the CBC is "settling"; it is identity / racial politics first, the lack of corruption second.  As it probably will be with every other caucus in the Congress that is Democratic in nature – lots of little islands.

This may sound like heresy, but I do want Speaker Pelosi to succeed on this issue – but probably this issue alone.  We need to have confidence in our leadership.  We need to be able to respect not only their words but their actions.  Polls have shown that those in Congress make fun of the low ratings of President Bush – theirs is even lower.  It is my take that our leaders should be respected, but that will not happen until they start acting respectable.
"The haters… and negative nabobs…the people who spoke against him couldn’t prevail against the people who spoke for him," Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, master of ceremonies for the CBC’s celebratory event, said Thursday morning.

Gee, is he talking about those that wanted honest, civil people?  Well, if they are not for ME, then WE are against THEM!

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, led the charge to remove Jefferson from the House Ways and Means Committee last spring and has said she will not consider reinstating him to the powerful post until he is cleared of all allegations.

Good for her!

The FBI is currently conducting an investigation that alleges Jefferson accepted $100,000 from a telecommunications businessman — $90,000 of which was later recovered in the congressman’s freezer.

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