William 'Cold Hard Cash' Jefferson Gets 13 Years

Well, Friday the 13th wasn't so lucky for one former congressman. William Jefferson finally had justice served by receiving a 13-year jail sentence for his conviction of corruption going back several years. This has dragged on for so long that apparently those layers and layers of fact checkers at the dinosaur media can't even decide what age he is.

In 2007, when he was originally indicted CBS said he was 63 years old.

The 63-year-old Jefferson, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the investigation.

However, today the WSJ informs us that he has managed to perform some sort of miracle, by reversing the aging process.

Jefferson, 62, was convicted in August on bribery, money laundering and racketeering charges. Prosecutors said he took in $478,000 in bribes and sought millions more.

Regardless, there is no mention if he will lose his Congressional retirement pay, which we would assume would be the case, but nowadays nothing is certain. It was Congress critters of both political parties who objected to the FBI raid on his office in which the $90,000 in cash was discovered in his refrigerator in his office.

The Saturday night search of Jefferson's office on Capitol Hill brought Democrats and Republicans together in rare election-year accord, with both parties protesting agency conduct they said violated the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine.

At the time of the raid Jefferson sat on the House Ways and Means Committee, the same agency now headed by Charlie Rangel. Pelosi did ask him to resign from the committee, which he refused.

The most amazing part of the whole story is that even while under investigation and indictment he managed to win re-election. He was beaten in the most recent election by Joseph Cao. Yes, that Joseph Cao, the lone Republican who voted in favor of the PelosiCare government takeover of the health industry.

So anyway, Mr. Jefferson, enjoy your time in prison even if you're eligibility for Social Security benefits seems now to be in doubt.

William 'The Refrigerator' Jefferson Ousted by Vietnamese Refugee

Hopefully the next stop for Jefferson is a federal penitentiary. No doubt were his opponent a Democrat, we'd be hearing about the joys of diversity. Of course Democrats don't want much to do with the Vietnamese immigrants since they're a painful reminder of the millions they left behind to be slaughtered by the Communists.

In a year when national Republican fortunes took a turn for the worse, Louisiana delivered the GOP two seats in Congress in elections delayed by Hurricane Gustav.

Indicted Democratic U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was ousted Saturday from his New Orleans area district, while Republicans narrowly held on to the seat vacated by a retiring incumbent.

The wins followed Republicans' reconquest of another House seat earlier this fall that had been lost to Democrats.

In the 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of New Orleans, Republican attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao won 50 percent of the vote to Jefferson's 47 percent and will become the first Vietnamese-American in Congress. His only previous political experience was an unsuccessful 2007 bid for a seat in the state legislature.

In the 4th Congressional District in western Louisiana, Republican John Fleming squeaked past Democrat Paul Carmouche in the race to replace retiring 10-term Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La. Only a few hundred votes separated the two.

Republicans made an aggressive push to take the 2nd District seat from the 61-year-old Jefferson, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, laundering money and misusing his congressional office.

"The people of the 2nd District have spoken," Cao, 41, told supporters at a restaurant near the French Quarter. "We want new direction. We want action. We want accountability."

In a speech that was gracious but stopped short of concession, Jefferson blamed low voter turnout for his showing and said supporters may have thought he was a shoo-in after he won a Nov. 4 primary in the predominantly black and heavily Democratic district.

"I think people just ran out of gas a bit," he said. "People today flat didn't come out in large numbers."

Yeah, probably because some of them might be tired of voting for a criminal.

Hey, where'd those Obama coattails go? His party is now 0-3 in elections held since November 4.

Michelle Malkin has more on Cao's background.

AG Announces Crackdown on Corrupt Politicians, Democratic Party Immediately Disbands

In light of the recent hijinx from corrupt Democrat office holders, this news is most welcome.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey vowed anew Thursday to crack down on crooked politicians and public officials, dismissing critics who accuse the Justice Department of letting partisan loyalties interfere with corruption cases.

Mukasey's comments came hours after prosecutors charged Puerto Rico's Democratic-leaning governor in a campaign finance probe that began more than two years ago.

Additionally, Mukasey said that a multibillion-dollar overseas contracting loophole that was quietly slipped into Justice Department plans to protect taxpayers' money "shouldn't happen."

All were part of the attorney general's rhetorical assault on public corruption, which he called one of his top priorities.

Democrat-leaning? Good grief. Hello! He's a Barack Obama superdelgate, for crying out loud.

Seriously though, to be fair, there are more than enough crooked Republicans littering the trail in recent years, and I have nothing but contempt for them as well.

The Justice Department has brought numerous corruption cases over the last several years targeting Democrats and Republicans alike. In 2006, the latest data available, Justice prosecutors charged nearly 1,200 federal, state and local government employees in public integrity cases — a 20 percent increase from a decade ago.

During his speech, Mukasey pointedly spoke of charges brought against two former Republican congressmen: Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California and Bob Ney of Ohio. He did not mention charges brought hours earlier against Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who faces 19 counts in a campaign finance probe. Twelve others associated with Acevedo's Popular Democratic Party also were indicted Thursday.

Other high-profile lawmakers facing Justice Department charges include Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., in a land scam case, and Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., for allegedly taking bribes. Also under scrutiny by the FBI or congressional investigators are at least eight current House and Senate lawmakers. Democrat Eliot Spitzer resigned as New York's governor earlier this month after a federal wiretap caught him arranging trysts with a prostitute.