The election for Congress was seen as safe for Democratic 9 term incumbent William Jefferson in a district that mostly covered New Orleans. But the Republican narrowly defeated him in an upset.
William Jennings Jefferson is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction.
New Orleans is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana. With an estimated population of 393,292 in 2017, it is the most populous city in Louisiana. A major port, New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for the broader Gulf Coast region of the United States.
The investigation began in mid-2005, after an investor alleged $400,000 in bribes were paid through a company maintained in the name of his spouse and children. The money came from a tech company named iGate, Inc. of Louisville, Kentucky, and in return, it is alleged, Jefferson would help iGate's business. Jefferson was to persuade the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products; use his efforts to influence high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon; and meet with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.[1]
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th most-populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being Lexington, the state's second-largest city. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, located in the northern region of the state, on the border with Indiana.
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals and traffic types. The medium can be coaxial cable, optical fiber, radio or twisted pair.
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal republic in West Africa, bordering Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Its coast in the south is located on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The federation comprises 36 states and 1 Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The constitution defines Nigeria as a democratic secular country.
On 30 July 2005, Jefferson was videotaped by the FBI receiving $100,000 worth of $100 bills in a leather briefcase at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Virginia.[2] Jefferson told an investor, Lori Mody, who was wearing a wire, that he would need to give Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar $500,000 "as a motivating factor" to make sure they obtained contracts for iGate and Mody's company in Nigeria.[3]
Atiku Abubakar is a Nigerian politician, businessman, philanthropist and presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party at the 2019 Nigerian general election. He served as the 11th vice-president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.
A few days later, on 3 August 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington and, as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office, "found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers." Serial numbers found on the currency in the freezer matched serial numbers of funds given by the FBI to their informant.
Late on the night of 20 May 2006, FBI agents executed a search warrant[4] at Jefferson's office in the Rayburn House Office Building. This is "believed to be the first-ever FBI raid on a Congressional office,"[5] raising concerns that it could "set a dangerous precedent that could be used by future administrations to intimidate or harass a supposedly coequal branch of the government."[6]
The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street.
The affidavit used to support these raids alleged:
The FBI videotaped Jefferson receiving a stock certificate from Mody for a company set up in Nigeria to promote iGate's technology. Jefferson predicted the deal would generate $200 million annually after five years.
Jefferson told Mody that he wanted a similar financial stake in the business in Ghana.
Jefferson sought $10 million in financing from Mody to take over iGate and install "confidants" on the new board. In two payments, Mody wired $89,225 to the ANJ Group LLC, a company controlled by Jefferson's family.
Jefferson lent $4,800 of the money Mody gave him to an unnamed congressional aide. Another $4,900 was given back to the FBI by one of Jefferson's attorneys.
The FBI claims it has uncovered "at least seven other schemes in which Jefferson sought things of value in return for his official acts."
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
A primary election is the process by which voters, either the general public or members of a political party, can indicate their preference for a candidate in an upcoming general election or by-election, thus narrowing the field of candidates.
The Louisiana Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state missions. When not Federalized the National Guard is the only United States military force empowered to function in a state status. Those functions range from limited actions during non-emergency situations to full scale law enforcement of Martial law when local law enforcement officials can no longer maintain civil control. The National Guard may be called into federal service in response to a call by the President or Congress.
By fall 2008 the incumbent faced longstanding federal charges of bribery involving Nigerian business interests and was perceived by some as vulnerable, with only 25 percent of Democrats voting for him in the first round of the 2008 Democratic primaries. Jefferson faced six African-American challengers along with newscaster Helena Moreno in the first primary, all of them clamoring for change from Louisiana's reputation for political corruption.[8] Jefferson defeated Moreno by 57 percent to 43 percent in a runoff which went largely along racial lines. Moreno later endorsed Cao in the general election. Cao, unopposed for the Republican nomination, was running against Jefferson, as were Green Party candidate Malik Rahim and Libertarian Party candidate Gregory Kahn.[9] An earlier candidate, independent Jerry Jacobs, had withdrawn.[10]
The incumbent is the current holder of an office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the Hungarian presidential election, 2017, János Áder was the incumbent, because he had been the president in the term before the term for which the election sought to determine the president. A race without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat.
Bribery is the act of giving or receiving something of value in exchange for some kind of influence or action in return, that the recipient would otherwise not offer. Bribery is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty. Essentially, bribery is offering to do something for someone for the expressed purpose of receiving something in exchange. Gifts of money or other items of value which are otherwise available to everyone on an equivalent basis, and not for dishonest purposes, is not bribery. Offering a discount or a refund to all purchasers is a legal rebate and is not bribery. For example, it is legal for an employee of a Public Utilities Commission involved in electric rate regulation to accept a rebate on electric service that reduces their cost for electricity, when the rebate is available to other residential electric customers. Giving the rebate to influence them to look favorably on the electric utility's rate increase applications, however, would be considered bribery.
Helena Nancy Moreno is the Vice President of the New Orleans City Council and First Division Councilmember-at-Large. Moreno was formerly a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, where she represented the District 93. She was first elected in May 2010 during a special election and was unopposed in her re-election in the fall of 2011. On October 14, 2017, Moreno was elected to the Division 1 at-large seat on the New Orleans City Council, winning by nearly 2-1 against her two opponents, fellow Democratic state Representative Joseph Bouie Jr. and Democrat Kenneth Cutno, and avoiding a runoff. She will be taking office in June 2018 which will require her to resign from the House of Representatives.
On November 30 the New Orleans Times-Picayune editorially endorsed Cao[11] while on the op-ed page its columnist James Gill asserted that Jefferson's reelection "is not going to happen."[12] The prospect of a serious general election in the majority African-American and heavily Democratic 2nd district was all the more startling in that the last Republican to represent the district was Hamilton D. Coleman, who left the office in 1891. According to the Los Angeles Times, Cao, if elected, would become the first individual of Vietnamese extraction to serve in the U.S. Congress.[13]
Cao's candidacy received the endorsement of the Alliance for Good Government,[14] the Family Research Council's Action PAC,[15] Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal,[16] and even entertainer Pat Boone.[17] New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had announced his support for Jefferson during the Democratic primary elections. The New Orleans Gambit Weekly, citing its opposition to Jefferson's alleged corruption and Cao's noncommittal statements on embryonic stem-cell research, made no endorsement.[18]
The days before the December 6 election were characterized by what Jefferson's campaign called "overly negative" tactics undertaken on behalf of Cao's campaign by outside organizations such as the National Republican Congressional Committee. Besides references to Jefferson's removal from the House Ways and Means Committee by Democratic Speaker of the HouseNancy Pelosi, the negative tactics included automated telephone calls from a woman identifying herself as "Katy" and citing incumbent Jefferson's federal indictment on 16 counts of corruption. In a meeting of African-American ministers, the Reverend Samuel Butler said that the real reason for the negative campaign tactics was to disenfranchise African-American voters, which prompted Cao advisor and former New Orleans City Council member Bryan Wagner to assert that, "with Rev. Butler's imagination, he may want to go to work for Walt Disney."[19]
On December 6, the Times-Picayune reiterated its endorsement of Cao, this time pointing to President-Elect Barack Obama's efforts on behalf of Democrat Paul Carmouche in the simultaneous election in Louisiana's 4th congressional district and Obama's non-involvement in efforts to support Jefferson.[20]
On December 6 at 10:20 PM CST, CNN projected Cao the winner.[21] Final unofficial results on the Louisiana Secretary of State's web site showed Cao with 33,122 (49.55%), Jefferson 31,296 (46.82%), Kahn 548 (0.82%), and Rahim 1,880 (2.81%).[22] Jefferson won by 23,197 to 20,246 in Orleans Parish, where 21 of the 392 precincts showed zero votes for Cao, but Cao more than made up the difference with a margin 12,696 to the incumbent's 8,099 in Jefferson Parish.[23]
Election results
Louisiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2008
Malik Rahim is an American housing and prison activist based since the late 1990s in the New Orleans area of Louisiana, where he grew up. In 2005 Rahim gained national publicity as a community organizer in New Orleans in 2005 to combat the widespread destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; there he co-founded the Common Ground Collective.
Jacquelyn Brechtel "Jackie" Clarkson is a former New Orleans city councilwoman and the mother of actress Patricia Clarkson. Honorary consul of Lithuania in New Orleans.
Renée Gill Pratt is an American politician from New Orleans, Louisiana. She was also Director of the Center for Student Retention and Success in Southern University at New Orleans. On July 25, 2011, she was found guilty of racketeering. For this crime, she is currently serving a 4-year sentence.
Karen Carter Peterson is a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate, having represented the 5th District since 2010. She is also the current Chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party. Peterson is the first woman to serve in this role. In 2017, Karen Carter Peterson was elected for a four-year term as the Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation at the Democratic National Committee, focused on protecting voting rights and expanding voter participation. The position was previously held by Donna Brazile.
Shelley Stephenson Midura is a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana and a former member of the New Orleans City Council. A Democrat, she represented District A from 2006 to her retirement in 2010. She first won election when she defeated Republican incumbent Jay Batt. She announced in 2009 she would not seek reelection.
The 2008 congressional elections in Louisiana to determine representation for the state of Louisiana in the United States House of Representatives occurred November 4, 2008. Louisiana has seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 4, 2009 until January 3, 2011. The election coincided with the 2008 U.S. presidential election.
Derrick D. T. Shepherd is an attorney and Democratic politician, formerly a member of the Louisiana Senate.
Ánh Quang "Joseph" Cao is a Vietnamese-American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. In April 2011, Cao announced his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of Louisiana, but in September 2011 he pulled out of the race. The incumbent Buddy Caldwell ran unopposed for a second term.
James Gill is a writer and a columnist who worked for the Times-Picayune, in New Orleans, Louisiana before joining the staff of The Advocate. He has written books about the Mardi Gras celebration.
The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 2011 was held on October 22 with 10 candidates competing in a nonpartisan blanket primary. The incumbent, Bobby Jindal, was elected to a second term as governor of Louisiana. Since he received an outright majority of the vote in the blanket primary, a runoff election that would have occurred on November 19 was unnecessary.
Stacy Aline Singleton Head is an American lawyer and former president of the New Orleans City Council.
Rosalind Magee Peychaud is a Democratic former state representative for Louisiana House of Representatives District 91. In 2009 Peychaud became deputy chief of staff for U.S. Representative Joseph Cao, a Republican who represented Louisiana's 2nd congressional district. She served in his New Orleans district office.
James Milton Singleton, a prime mover in the New Orleans political organization BOLD, serves on the nine-member Louisiana Gaming Commission, having been nominated for the position by Xavier University of Louisiana president Norman Francis and appointed by Governor Bobby Jindal.
Jalila Eshe Jefferson-Bullock served as a state representative in the Louisiana Legislature from 2004 to 2007, representing House District 91, which she won from Rosalind Peychaud in a general election after losing to Peychaud in an earlier special election.
The corruption case against then Louisiana Representative William J. Jefferson in the United States started on a suspicion of bribery. The FBI raided his Congressional offices in May 2006. He was re-elected to his seat in the fall. On June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen charges related to corruption. Jefferson was defeated by Republican Joseph Cao on December 6, 2008, and was the most senior Democratic incumbent to lose re-election that year. In 2009 he was tried in the US District Court in Virginia on corruption charges. On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of 11 of the 16 corruption counts. Jefferson was sentenced to 13 years on November 13, 2009, the longest sentence ever given to a representative for bribery or any charge.
Cedric Levon Richmond is an American politician in the Democratic Party who has been the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district since 2011. His district includes most of New Orleans.
Elections were held on November 2, 2010 to determine Louisiana's seven members of the United States House of Representatives. Representatives were elected for two-year terms to serve in the 112th United States Congress from January 3, 2011 until January 3, 2013. Primary elections were held on August 28, 2010, and a runoff election for the Republican Party nomination in the 3rd district took place on October 2, 2010.
↑ In the last days of the campaign Democrats Helena Moreno, who was defeated by Jefferson in the Democratic primary, and former District Attorney Harry Connick, the father of singer Harry Connick, Jr., endorsed Cao and recorded telephone messages to be played to voters. Michelle Krupa and Frank Donze's "Crooning for Cao"Archived 2008-12-20 at the Wayback Machine. in the Times-Picayune, 2008 December 4, retrieved 2008 December 6.
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