Corruption issue besets House Democrats, again

After winning control of the House of Representatives on a campaign to end a culture of corruption on Republican-led Capitol Hill, Democrats are scrambling to respond to a 16-count indictment against one of their own.

The federal indictment charges nine-term Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana with racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, soliciting bribes, obstruction of justice, and – a first for a member of Congress – violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans corporate bribery overseas.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the charges "extremely serious." If proved true, they "constitute an egregioius and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power," she said in a statement Monday.

Preempting action by the Steering Committee to strip him of his assignment on the Small Business Committee, Mr. Jefferson voluntarily stepped down Tuesday from his last remaining committee post pending, he said, the "successful conclusion" of the charges against him.

House Republican leaders, for their part, are calling for a floor vote this week on whether to refer the indictment to the House ethics committee. "If the charges against Congressman Jefferson are true, he should be expelled from the House of Representatives," said Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, in a statement.

Responding to this GOP move, ethics committe chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones said an investigative subcommittee will be formed to look into the charges against Jefferson.

The indictment comes at a tough time for Democrats. Public assessment of their performance since taking charge of Capitol Hill in January has been worsening, polls show. On Democrats' other big election issue – the war in Iraq – they disappointed antiwar activists last month by approving President Bush's war-funding request for this fiscal year.

"The Jefferson case was much less important to Democrats when they were in the minority," says Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University in New Jersey. "Coming after a watered-down ethics bill, the story is about failing to reform a system they promised to change."

"For those frustrated on Iraq as well, it becomes part of an ongoing story on whether the Democrats can follow through on what they promised. The ... Jefferson case is ... now part of a balancing act the Democrats are trying to do between pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus [to be fair to Jefferson] and political pressure to make sure this doesn't become the story of the month, taking attention from the war in Iraq," Mr. Zelizer adds.

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