GOP seeks to expel Jefferson from House

WASHINGTON - Republicans moved on Tuesday to seek Rep. William J. Jefferson's expulsion from Congress, a day after the Louisiana Democrat was indicted on charges of taking more than $500,000 in bribes.

Jefferson, meanwhile, relinquished his seat on the House Small Business Committee before members of his own party could vote to kick him off the panel.

In a two-paragraph letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), Jefferson, 60, said he was taking the step "in the light of recent developments in a legal matter." He acknowledged no wrongdoing.

Republicans, citing Pelosi's election-season promise to run the most ethical House in history, sought Jefferson's expulsion from the chamber, possibly before he comes to trial on the bribery charges.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio was pushing for a vote late Tuesday on a resolution to bar Jefferson from serving on any House committee and to direct the ethics committee to decide by July 11 whether the allegations in the indictment merit his expulsion, according to a partial draft of the document obtained by The Associated Press.

Specifics were uncertain because the resolution was still being written.

It's unusual for the House in a resolution to specifically instruct the ethics committee to report whether a member's expulsion is warranted. Usually such resolutions leave it to the committee to recommend appropriate sanctions after its investigation.

The unusual directive produced a rare retort from the chairwoman of the House ethics committee.

"It is inappropriate for any other member to impose on these proceedings," Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (news, bio, voting record), D-Ohio, chairwoman of the Standards of Official Conduct committee, said in a statement that did not mention Boehner by name. "I refuse to allow these proceedings to be politicized by House Republican leadership."

An ethics committee probe seemed certain. Pelosi, D-Calif., later Tuesday was expected to name 10 House Democrats to a pool from which the House ethics committee can pick if it decides to appoint a special subcommittee to investigate the charges against Jefferson.

A grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted Jefferson on Monday on 16 counts connected to a bribery investigation that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. The charges include racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 235 years.

The indictment said Jefferson received more than $500,000 in bribes and sought millions more in separate schemes to enrich himself by using his office to broker business deals in Africa. The charges came almost two years after investigators raided Jefferson's home in Washington and found $90,000 in cash stuffed in his freezer.
GOP seeks to expel Jefferson from House - Yahoo! News

$90,000 in the ol' freezer is pretty bad but whatever happened to "innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law".

NOT defending the mans actions.....just following what's "suppose" to be our beliefs.

Have a good one!:s4: