Jefferson Tells Congressional Leaders He Will Take Leave To Fight Charges

Tuesday, June 5th 2007, 12:55 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Bowing to political reality, Rep. William J. Jefferson relinquished his only remaining House committee job Tuesday to fight federal charges he received more than $500,000 in bribes. Republicans said they would seek to expel him from the House.

The Louisiana Democrat's decision to step down from the House Small Business Committee came a few days before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was expected to urge his ouster from the panel.

In a two-paragraph letter to Pelosi, Jefferson, 60, said he was taking the step ``in the light of recent developments in a legal matter.''

``In doing so, I, of course, express no admission of guilt or culpability in that or any other matter that may be pending in any court or before the House of Representatives,'' Jefferson added. ``I have supported every ethics and lobbying reform measure that you and our Democratic Majority have authored, and I make this request for leave to support the letter and the spirit of your leadership in this area.''

Republicans, citing Pelosi's election-season promise to run the most ethical House in history, sought Jefferson's expulsion from the chamber.

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio was pushing for a vote later 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.

An ethics committee probe seemed certain. Pelosi 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 Democratic leadership aide said. The aide demanded anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made public.

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.

Jefferson's lawyer has declared his client innocent.

After the FBI had found $90,000 in cash in Jefferson's freezer and alleged that stash was bribe money nearly two years ago, Pelosi succeeded in stripping Jefferson of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee _ over Jefferson's objection.

The congressman, who represents part of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, was then re-elected in November to a ninth term in the House. Opening the 110th Congress as House Speaker this year, Pelosi granted him the seat on the Small Business Committee.