Furious black lawmakers, rallying behind Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), were pulled back from the brink of open revolt against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an emergency meeting with her Wednesday evening. The meeting with a handful of CBC members was called after Pelosi wrote the embattled lawmaker, who is at the center of a massive bribery scandal, a curt note requesting his immediate resignation from the powerful Ways and Means Committee.Outraged that one of its members was being picked on even though he has not been charged with a crime, the Congressional Black Caucus had intended to issue a defiant statement against their leader but agreed after the meeting to pause, at least briefly, for reflection.
Earlier this week, Pelosi approached Jefferson and told him that she thought he should resign, according to a Democratic aide. Later, at the Democratic caucus meeting yesterday morning, she took him into a side room and told him that she had prepared a letter calling on him to resign the committee seat and that she would allow him one hour to withdraw gracefully before she sent it, according to the aide. In both instances, Jefferson remained defiant.| Credit where it's due: she's trying to do the minimum right thing, and it would rebound favorably on the Doinks. |
Good thing it was written, that would be hard to deliver verbally with a straight face.
Jefferson promptly refused, calling her request “discriminatory” and “unprecedented,” and suggested that she was employing a double standard by failing to ask other lawmakers facing ethics questions to relinquish their committee assignments. Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) has come under fire for earmarks he secured through his seat on the Appropriations Committee.
| Good point, Congressman, let's get him gone too. Thanks for the tip. |
The wo-ManÂ’s been keeping us down!
Jefferson has been the subject of a wide-ranging bribery investigation by the Department of Justice. PelosiÂ’s call for his ouster came several days after a newly filed court document offered more details on JeffersonÂ’s alleged acceptance of $100,000 from an FBI informant in a sting operation. Days after that purported exchange, the document said, the FBI found $90,000 in JeffersonÂ’s freezer.
YesterdayÂ’s lunchtime CBC meeting with Jefferson was well-attended, drawing nearly all of the caucusÂ’s
YesÂ…that FBI surveillance tape is also a bit unfortunate.
Then the aide added an electoral threat, saying, “The African-American community, which overwhelmingly backs the Democratic Party, will not take this lightly. I hope she enjoys being minority leader.”
Is that what they call a double entendre?
| And it implies that African-Americans aren't as upset about all the ethical problems as everyone else. There's a winning strategy. |
DamnÂ…HeÂ’s smoooooth!
Absent from the CBC meeting was Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who has had an interest in securing a seat on the Ways and Means Committee. His spokesman said he had no comment.
What a coincidence!