Dollar Bill loses change of venue motion in federal corruption trial

 

Surprise, y’all. Corrupt “Dollar” Bill Jefferson lost his change of venue motion to the District of Columbia in his federal corruption trial. Now, he’ll hafta face the white folk in Northern Virginia and explain how all dat payola ended up in his damn freezer. Give the Lord a hand clap, y’all.

According to the Associated Press, “Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., had argued that the government unfairly brought charges against him in suburban Alexandria rather than the District of Columbia because it wanted a venue where fewer blacks are in the jury pool. Jefferson, who represents much of New Orleans, is black.”

“Prosecutors contend that northern Virginia is an appropriate venue because that is where Jefferson was caught on videotape accepting bribes, and because the alleged victim in the bribery scheme ran a business based in the area.”

I cannot wait until the white jury foreman delivers the verdict and pronounces Jefferson guilty. That moment of ecstasy will be better than an orgasm.

 

 

The Jefferson empire is crumbling right on schedule. His baby girl and political protege, Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, a lawyer and state representative, lost her bid for a promotion to the State Senate to the candidate I endorsed, Cheryl Gray, a few weeks ago. Gray beat her like she stole somethin’ 71% to 29%. Give the Lord another hand clap, y’all.

When they finally convict this Negro, sometime next year, I anticipate that my girl, Karen Carter, will be ready to step up and take her place in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Nawlins update

Louisiana has a Gubernatorial election this year and the massively incompetent Governor, Kathleen Blanco-D Louisiana, will not be running.    Speculation centered on chocolate city Mayor Ray Nagin to run in her stead, but, he recently announced, after flirting with a run on the “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” that he would not be a candidate after all. 

This means that the right-wing Indian American Congressman, Bobby Jindal R-Louisiana, is the presumptive Governor in waiting.  Tragic. 

 

On top of that impending disaster is the announced candidacy of State Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock for a New Orleans State Senate Seat.   Jefferson-Bullock, the daughter of indicted Congressman “Dollar Bill” Jefferson, is following  Daddy’s example and getting her ducks in a row to succeed him if he is sent to the slammer where his black A belongs.

Jefferson-Bullock is a key lieutenent in her Daddy’s political empire, which also includes his wife, and his brother and sister.  Their corruption as a family is legendary.

Jefferson ‘s re-election campaign last year was a classic in southern political demagoguery and dirty campaigning.   He called his black opponent everything but a child of God, even as he defended himself for pocketing bribes obtained in an FBI sting.  He dipped liberally from the well of homophobia and racial antagonism as he accused Karen Carter of being an agent of the white establishment, which is precisely what he had been, when he voted to repeal the estate tax for the wealthiest 1% while black New Orleanianas were washed away by a flood of white establishment indifference.

Nevertheless, God is good and he always has a ram in the bush.  Her name is State Representative Cheryl Gray, a good friend and colleague of Karen Carter, the candidate I backed to run against Dollar Bill last year. 

Sistah Gray is a progressive who has focused on health care and housing issues in the legislature.  She has also opposed shredding a woman’s right to choose and has voted against banning same-sex marriage.   

A lawyer and state representative, she is a scion of the distinguished Gray family and is the daughter of Attorney James Gray and Judge Ernestine Gray.   Cheryl Gray has Skeptical Brotha’s enthusiastic endorsement for State Senate. I’ll take a Gray over a Jefferson any day because our people in the Big Easy need a champion, not more corruption. Its high time for our people to rise up in righteous indignation and throw the Jeffersons out of the temples of power.

“Dollar Bill” Jefferson’s favorite things, a christmas carol

 

Sung to the tune of My Favorite Things

Redmeat to the right-wing,
And no whiskers on my women,
Not to bright colored voters,
And warm woolen mittens (full of cash),
Brown paper packages,
filled up with bribes,
These are a few of my favorite things . . .

Cream colored hookers,
An’ crisp apple strudels,
Kickbacks an’ sleigh bells,
An’ no bid contracts with oodles,
Glasses of Wild Turkey that fly with the moon on their wings,
These are a few of my favorite things . . .

Men in white dresses,
With blue satin sashes,
FBI Agents all up in my nose and eyelashes,
Meddling white liberals,
that help Karen Carter
These are not a few of my favorite things . . .

When Nancy Pelosi bites,
When the FBI stings,
When I’m feelin’ sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad . . .

Right-Wing Redmeat….hmmm Bribes…
Kickbacks…….hookers….
La dee da, la dee da,
La dee da, da,
These are a few of my favorite things . . .

When Nancy Pelosi bites,
When the FBI stings,
When I’m feelin’ sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And little by little my heavy heart sings . . .

And then I don’t feel so bad . . .

Sistas Unite

Three outstanding sista’s labored mightily to hold up the blood stained banner of black progressive politics in 2006.  Karen Carter,  Donna Edwards, and Cynthia McKinney.   It is damning for the CBC to have given monetary and pac support to their two of the ladies opponents and did next to nothing for their colleague, Cynthia McKinney.

Sista Leutisha Stills of Black Agenda Report has an excellent report detailing the greater progressive tendencies of black female Congresswomen than their black male counterparts.  In the case of these particular sistas it takes a woman to do a “man’s job” because the brothas ain’t man enough to stand up for what’s right for America and for their constituents.

“Dollar Bill” Jefferson has repeatedly voted to eliminate estate taxes on the wealthiest people in the nation so that they can pass their wealth to their children and heirs tax free.  This, while thousands of his constituents are desperate to come home to New Orleans and there is no affordable housing, no jobs, and inadequate schools.  Slashing taxes for the rich was never helpful before Katrina,and it won’t be after.  It is time for a new direction.  Perhaps the people will have that opportunity after he’s convicted on federal bribery charges. His re-election over Karen Carter is a defeat for progressives and for the people of New Orleans.

Like Jefferson, Al Wynn is also an irresponsible Corporate Whore too wedded to corporate payola to vote the interests of his constituents.  Wynn for to allow the Bush Administration to go to war in Iraq and has placed his vote on the side of wingnuts who authorized the development of “low-yield” nuclear weapons.  Just what the doctor ordered, more weapons to make war on brown people with natural resources America needs.  He has lost his way and it is time for a progressive alternative:  Donna Edwards. 

Finally, Hankerchief Head  Hank Johnson, defeated Cynthia McKinney on a shameless Pro-Israel platform which will allow them to bomb their enemies back to the stone-age, regardless of actual threat or potential loss of life.  He claims to be liberal, but somebody who supports Israeli aggression of the type that we saw this year is no liberal.  The bombing of Lebanon and the killing of innocents is an unconscionable human rights crime that should be condemned not championed.  I pray for a McKinney resurrection, but I am not really  hopeful.

It should be the mission of black progressives to form alliances and Political PAC’S to change the face of CBC into what it needs to be:  A progressive bulwark of freedom for the Nation.  They can start by helping to encourage these sistas and women like them to run for Congress.

Jefferson defeats Karen Carter in landslide

Hypnotized by a steady diet of hate and led around by the nose by a dishonest band of crooks claiming to be men of the cloth, Black folks, in a fog of ignorance, voted against their own best interests and returned a crooked son-of-a-bitch back to Congress where he can continue to vote the interests of the corporate power structure like the good corporate whore that he has proven himself to be over the last 16 years.

Let’s face facts, the same ignorant dynamic that allowed Ray Nagin, the black bastard elected Mayor by a majority of white votes and a flood of corporate cash 5 years ago, the same Ray Nagin who was born in Charity Hospital and who allowed thousands of his fellow brothas and sistas to drown, the same Ray Nagin who couldn’t be bothered to actually give aid and comfort to those he left for dead, the same Ray Nagin that convinced the same black folks he left to die that New Orleans would remain a chocolate city and endorsed a crook for Congress, created a deceptive playbook for Bill Jefferson to follow.  Jefferson followed it to the letter to win re-election.

He pandered to every prejudice and right-wing wedge issue he could.   The last time I checked,  stoking homophobia does nothing to rebuild housing, schools, businesses, or jobs.  The last time I checked, banning Abortion and taking bribes was of no assistance either. He was aided in his panderfest by rival Derrick Shepherd, who hoped Jefferson could be re-elected so that he could walk right into the seat after Jefferson’s inevitable indictment and conviction.

The people of New Orleans have re-elected a charlatan who can do nothing good for anybody from a prison cell and rejected an honest woman.  It is an unfathomable abomination.

Karen Carter Ad

Karen Carter fights back in this ad that keeps the focus where it should be: Jefferson’s hypocrisy and corruption.  In the last month, Miss Carter has outraised Congressman Jefferson by over $250,000. The worm is turning. Adam Clayton Powell had a saying “Keep the Faith, Baby.” That is what we need to do and stick behind this sister until the end.  It is only three more days until the the run-off and it will all be over. The long suffering people of the Big Easy will have their say.  I am hoping and praying that they will opt for change and give a sister a chance to show them what she can do.

CBC PAC backs corrupt “Dollar Bill” Jefferson over Karen Carter

Sister Jill at Jack and Jill Politics has the scoop on the betrayal of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Caucus decision to back “Dollar Bill” over Sister Karen with $5000 in campaign cash.  The hypocrisy behind this move cannot be overstated.  Some of the most prominent CBC members like Maxine Waters, who said, “We have to watch the redevelopment in New Orleans for a lot of reasons, and one of them is to make sure that the shadow government of the rich and the powerful does not end up abusing eminent domain to take property that belongs to poor people in order to get them out of the city,” has decided to add campaign contributions to the campaign kitty of “Dollar Bill” Jefferson.  WTF?  How in the Hell can you claim to be in the corner of Katrina victims when you endorse a corrupt corporate servant like Jefferson, a congressman too busy trying to line his pockets with illicit cash to bother fufilling his duty to constitutents.

I have admired Maxine Waters for twenty years.  Her uncompromising advocacy on behalf of important issues to the community has been inspirational. This latest crap has caused me to re-evaluate her leadership and her character.  This move is simply unfathomable.

Even John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement who still bears the scars of multiple beatings, and who couldn’t be bothered to help home state democrat Cynthia McKinney, has given campaign cash to “Dollar Bill.”  I guess he got beat down one to many times.  This is not what the civil rights movement was about.  It was about equal opportunity and equal treatment, not equal opportunity graft for black politicians.  His support for Jefferson is akin to desecrating the grave of Dr. King.

Do these Negroes have no concept of the meaning of bull*#it.  Is it just me? Am I loosing my mind? 

Karen Carter faces two opponents in run-off, Jefferson and Shepherd

Sister Karen Carter is officially facing one opponent in the run-off but, in reality she faces two instead of one in the New Orleans congressional election in December.  The man she defeated, State Senator Derrick-I-will-endorse-a-crook-and-hope-he-wins-before-he’s-indicted-Shepherd, and Congressman “Dollar Bill” Jefferson.  There is a race and class breakdown in the general election vote in November that does not augur well for her.  Working class black voters, suspicious of the white power structure are voting for Jefferson, a man who diverted crucial National Guard assets to check on 90K in the freezer.  The black people voting for him apparently are not the people stuck on rooftops, dehydrated and exhausted from their ordeal and waiting to be rescued while he ties up guardsmen, checking on his property. 

Shepherd seeks to cloud the issues by running automated robo-calls into the community telling people Karen Carter is against banning abortion and same-sex marriage when that crap couldn’t be the furthest from their minds.

Come on, Black people.  What are we doing?  It is hard for me to understand why large portions of the African American community would vote for Jefferson after what they’ve endured. There really isn’t any doubt in my mind that Bill Jefferson will be indicted and convicted in this bribery probe.  It will happen similarly to the way that former NC Congressman Frank Ballance was idicted, forced from congress and convicted. Jefferson will face the same fate and probably take down some associate as well.

What is it that you need to see things clearly?  A commercial, a radio ad that puts things into perspective? 

How’s this: phone rings, “Hello, you’ve reached the office of Congressman “Dollar Bill” Jefferson. For bribes, press one.  For extortion, press two.  For kickbacks, press three.  For no-bid contracts, press four.  For help with problems related to Hurricane Katrina, vote Karen Carter for Congress. I’m Karen Carter and I approved this message.”

OK, y’all, can you vote for her now?  Y’all get it? 

Shepherd endorses Jefferson over Carter

 

 

 

Surrounded by a gaggle of jackleg Preachers, hangers-on, a stray white woman, and “Dollar Bill”Jefferson sycophants, former congressional candidate and State Senator Derrick Shepherd, endorsed his scandal-plagued rival.  “I cannot support someone who believes in abortion on demand,” the Senator said. “I cannot support someone who believes in gay marriage.” As I pointed out in a previous post, State Rep. Karen Carter is a progressive whose social views are shaped by the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth.  Louisiana banned abortion and gay-marriage this year as if either was a top priority to anybody unlucky enough to be a storm victim in the hurricane devastated southern state.

Apparently, Senator Shepherd believes that what the impoverished victims of Hurricane Katrina need is a culture warrior with a proclivity for taking bribes, instead of a congresswoman who will focus on getting them back home, back to school, and back to work.  This endorsement is shockingly fraudulent because it is wrapped up in misogyny and homophobia, and served up with dash of false religiosity.

This is all so curious, coming from somebody who campaigned against Jefferson in the primary as someone too preoccupied by scandal to be effective.  Now, fresh from a baptism of hate by the assembled jackleg preachers, Jefferson is fit to serve the people he never gave a damn about before.

This pathetic display is why the Congressional Black Caucus should be actively engaged in this race on Karen Carter’s behalf.  Instead, they screamed and moaned over Jefferson being stripped of his House Ways and Means Committee assignment.  Before that, they were pushing to have the corrupted Negro chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2003-2004 cycle.  I am sure that would have looked great for his office to be raided by the FBI during a Presidential election.  The GOP and their minions at Fox News would have had a field day with that manna from Heaven.

Get this, since Brett M. Pfeffer, a former legislative director to Jefferson pleaded guilty to aiding, and abetting bribery of a public official (Jefferson) in January, ten members of the Congressional Black Caucus have given campaign contributions to Jefferson.  Kendrick Meek, D-FL gave $1000 and Al Green, D-TX $2000 in March, followed by Diane Watson, D-CA $500, Mel Watt, D-NC $2000, Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-MI $2000, Jim Clyburn, D-SC, $1000, Bobby Rush, D-IL $2000, and Donald Payne, D-NJ $2000, in September. Danny Davis, D-IL, and Barbara Lee, D-CA both gave $1000 in October. 

These contributions show conclusively that the Congressional Black Caucus represents nobody but themselves.  Some of these names show up on the roster of CBC members that always vote to represent the interests of the African American Community.  These people have castigated this Administration for failing the hundreds of thousands of victims of Katrina.  It is blatantly hypocritical for them to contribute campaign cash to a crook, possibly saddling these people with an ineffective and venal corporate thief for another two critical years.

Karen Carter in Louisiana run-off against Bill Jefferson

 

There is one seat left to fill in the Congressional Black Caucus. Louisiana has yet to fill its seat in the New Orleans metro area most devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  The corrupt gumbo of Louisiana politics is tough to navigate but is fascinating as hell. 

I learned that when I attended Southern University in Baton Rouge 15 years ago.  White Supremacist David Duke was running for Governor against former Governor Edwin Edwards that year and the campaign was just heating up. Duke campaign signs dotted the rural areas like burning crosses and cast a pall on my mood as I drove through the state for the first time on my way to school.

Billie Holliday’s version of “Strange Fruit” would have been the perfect musical accompaniment to my trip. Her cracked wailing evokes something ethereal, dark, and sinister:

“Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop”

The aftermath of Katrina created some jarring images I’m unable to shake. I can’t help but think about the old woman whose body was draped by a sheet as she sat rotting in her wheelchair in the open air.  There were many such people who may have survived the initial calamity only to be taken by the grim reaper because an incompetent government allowed them to succumb to heat exhaustion, lack of medication, or frail health.

They were lynched by indifference.  Their lives didn’t matter to the federal, state, or local governments they entrusted with their safety. Bill Jefferson and his allies were to busy with their side graft to care about disaster recovery and emergency management. It is time for someone new. 

The people of Metro New Orleans cannot afford to send to congress a representative embroiled in a bribery scandal.  It needs a champion.  It needs someone who can hit the ground running.  It needs someone on a first name basis with Louisiana movers and shakers. It needs someone who the beleaguered business community can trust. It needs Karen Carter.

The more I look into her backers, the more reservations I have about Karen.  I never liked former Senator John Breaux or former Congressman Chris John.  These two right of center white democrats always left me cold.  Their records in Congress left much to be desired.  But there is no alternative.  I could see that she had what it took to make it into the runoff.  The others, notably Sen. Sheppard and Troy Carter were serious candidates.  Looking into their records on a couple of issues as members of the Louisiana House of Representatives, I am satisfied that she is the most progressive.

Some of y’all have expressed misgivings that as a representative of utility companies and chairwoman of the House Insurance Committee, she has been a tool of those interests.  Point taken, but consider this: the insurance industry is regulated by a statewide elected Commissioner in Louisiana and nearly all of them in the past several years have been indicted and gone to prison.  Utilities in Louisiana are also regulated by an elected commission. The level of corruption is a whole lot bigger than Karen.  She does not have the power to fundamentally change the rules of the game.  The power she does have has been used wisely from what I can tell.

She has passed legislation requiring insurers to notify covered persons in writing of their intent to cancel their coverage.  She passed legislation mandating a grace period and a lapse notice before insurance coverage can be cancelled.  She authored legislation to mandate that insurance companies that write property policies in Louisiana offer coverage for levee breaches, the problem that caused the massive flooding after Katrina.  It didn’t pass the legislature.  This is part of what was on this sister’s plate this year while Bill Jefferson was having his offices and homes searched by the FBI.  She was on the job doing the people’s business. He was looking for a way to stay out of jail. 

The choice between the two is clear.

I understand the unwillingness of some to trust the white interests bankrolling her, however, this sister seems to be able to use her power in a way that benefits everybody.  Isn’t that what everybody wants and needs? She already has the endorsement of the new Speaker of the House and the Louisiana Democratic Party.

The reason she does is because Bill Jefferson threw his seat and the people he represents away for petty graft.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have given a small contribution to Karen and I intend to do a little somethin’ more.  If you feel as I do and wish to help a sister out, her website is: http://www.karencarterforcongress.com/

The case for Karen Carter

After the losses of Cynthia McKinney and Donna Edwards to shameless handkerchief head corporate whores, Hank Johnson and Al Wynn, its time for the ranks of progressive sisters in congress to be replenished by one.  Her name is Karen Carter, a lawyer and Louisiana State Representative.

Sister Carter is running against the number one handkerchief head corporate whore, “Dollar Bill” Jefferson  D-New Orleans of the $90,000 in bribe money in the freezer fame.  The man who voted to lighten the load of the nation’s millionaires and billionaires by cutting their taxes while thousands of his constituents remain homeless, unemployed, without hope, and unable to come home to New Orleans. 

Mayor Ray Nagin, who left the poor to drown, endorsed Jefferson.  He said, “until he’s indicted, I think we ought to presume he’s innocent until proven guilty.”  The black fool who didn’t come to anybody’s aid during Katrina is now breaking his neck to come to the aid of a crook.  How convenient. 

Sister Carter is about business, not B.S.  While “Dollar Bill” was busy selling us out, Sister Carter was busy enacting school reform legislation to straighten out the intractable mess that is the Orleans Parish school district.  Sister Carter voted against banning a woman’s right to choose and against the nonsense of banning same-sex marriage. 

She even did something about the levee boards that were in charge of the disaster that Katrina wrought by merging them into one board so the left hand knows what the damn right hand is doing.  In short, the sister is on point.  Hopefully, this November, she’ll be large and in charge by becoming New Orleans next Congresswoman.