Back from PDF Conference in NYC; how is Tom Ridge like Adil Hoxha?; more mortgage disclosures; congressional ethics office empty; and more failed challenges from Hall of Shame indictee William Jefferson.

For two years, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge failed to disclose that he lobbied and consulted for Albania. After a Justice Department interview Ridge decided to finally file a disclosure under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Despite assurances from spokesmen at Ridge’s consulting firm, Ridge Global, that Ridge was not involved in any lobbying in the U.S., his disclosure lists meetings with congressmen on behalf of Albania. Perhaps more disturbing than this disclosure oversight is the reality of the Justice Department’s intervention, which was spurred not by oversight or investigation, but by media reports. I’d like to think that oversight of foreign lobbyists was not led by someone reading the Washington Post for clues and nothing else. (more…)

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The Pfizer-General Motors-Northwest Airlines-United-Coors Democratic and Republican conventions are looking for more sponsors; Dodd doesn’t understand acronyms; sometimes it’s not really disclosure; bad campaign donations; ethics complaints; angry foreigners; and our favorite frozen food fan, William Jefferson. Only the Sunlight Foundation sponsors this news: (more…)

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Wealth disparity in Congress as lawmakers disclosure their finances; KBR can’t decide if it’s “Support the Troops” or “All for the Ca$h;” McCain’s soft-money cash cow is called what again; and William Jefferson starts to pay back a loan to businessman who is currently a government witness against him. If you work for the Army, don’t do your job, it could get you fired. This is today’s news:

Yesterday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill disclosed their personal finances to the public highlighting recent news stories and controversies. At least a dozen lawmakers report loans from Countrywide on their personal financial disclosure forms. Last year, nine lawmakers reported loans from the mortgage giant currently embroiled in a Justice Department probe and a congressional influence scandal. There is no implication of wrongdoing on their part. Tardiness consistently plagues the financial disclosure process. This year, sixty-six lawmakers in the House failed to disclose on time. Meanwhile, the economic downturn hit some lawmaker finances hard. Both Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel lost millions of dollars as the market dropped. Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, however, both grew their personal fortunes. (Check out previous personal finance data at Fortune 535 or Open Secrets.) (more…)

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Update: CREW has the indictment. If you've got time take a look. It's 94 pages long. 

Today, a Virginia grand jury indicted 9-term Louisiana congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) on 16 counts including racketeering, solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the foreign corrupt practices act, and conspiracy. Jefferson is accused of accepting bribes and conspiring to bribe Nigerian government officials to promote a telephone business venture. The conspiracy involved two U.S.-based companies, iGate and W2 Corp. The head of iGate, Vernon Jackson, has already pled guilty and been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. The business conspiracy was upended when W2 head Lori Mody flipped to the FBI after allegedly being cheated out of her business by Jefferson, Jackson, and Jefferson's family. Mody handed over key information to the FBI and wore a wire, catching Jefferson admitting to the conspiracy on tape. If all of this evidence wasn't enough for Jefferson, the FBI raid on his house in Louisiana netted $90,000 in cash hidden away in the congressman's freezer.

This doesn't even sum up half of the corrupt allegations against Jefferson. If you want a full recounting of Jefferson's alleged misdeeds, including the multiple times he's been recorded on video and audio, check out this extensive section of his Congresspedia page. It should answer many of the questions you may have about this complicated conspiracy.

Many have wondered what took this indictment so long to come. I've heard this from commenters and bloggers across the political spectrum: "Why did it take so long to nail Jefferson?" He did after all have $90,000 in his freezer which he was videotaped taking from a Nigerian official's home days earlier. Why take so long?

It all comes back to an FBI raid of Jefferson's congressional office last year. The raid, executed because Jefferson had behaved so poorly when his Louisiana home was raided (he attempted to hide items of interest and take things back from investigators after they had been seized), was denounced by both Speaker Hastert and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi as a breach of the separation of powers. Congress demanded the return of the seized documents and the Bush administration acquiesed by sealing the documents for 45 days. Ultimately, the case went to court and was not resolved until last month.

Clearly, the Justice Department would have liked to have issued a supboena earlier but the dispute over the congressional office raid precluded that from happening.

If convicted, Rep. Jefferson may go down in history as the most corrupt congressman ever. He will certainly give the current reigning embarrassment former Rep. Duke Cunningham a run for his money as the congressman sentenced to the longest prison term. Cunningham is serving an 8 years and 8 months term. If convicted on all counts Jefferson would face up to 235 years in prison. That's four years longer than our nation has existed.

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On day one of the new Democratic Congress staffers are already finding that an old problem is giving them new headaches. Already Rep. William Jefferson - under investigation for accepting bribes and hiding $90,000 in cash in his freezer - has violated House rules by using his Congressional stationary to send a letter “asking colleagues to donate money to help him retire his campaign debt.” Roll Call notes, “It’s a no-no to use taxpayer resources to raise campaign dough.” One staffer jokes, “He’s got $90,000 in his freezer, why can’t he buy some stationery and stamps?” Jefferson’s staff say it’s a “tremendous staff error”. But, hey, New Orleans you guys voted for him! (Subscription free at Political Insider.)

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Rep. William Jefferson’s, D-La., current race for reelection is being described as “like being in a fight with an octopus”. The nine-term incumbent is currently facing 12 opponents in what is his toughest race to date. Jefferson’s difficulties stem from a federal investigation that has already netted one guilty plea, $90,000 in cash in Jefferson’s freezer, and an unprecedented FBI raid on Jefferson’s congressional office. Absent these factors it is unlikely that most of Jefferson’s opponents would have challenged him.

Since Jefferson has been under a cloud of scandal he has lost his powerful seat on the House Ways and Means Committee, House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have called for him to resign his seat, and he has lost the endorsement of the Louisiana Democratic Party. That endorsement has gone to state Rep. Karen Carter, who has also received the endorsements of every major local newspaper. Today, another Jefferson opponent, state Sen. Derrick Shepherd received the endorsement of 20 officials in Jefferson Parrish.

One of the quickest ways for an incumbent congressman to lose reelection is to become the target of an investigation or get your self embroiled in any manner of scandal. Voters tend to question the character of those accused of impropriety, especially those in Washington, but Jefferson still manages to hold onto support in his district. Most observers still believe that he is fighting an uphill battle, especially with the dramatically altered demographics in post-Katrina New Orleans.

In some radio spots Jefferson casts himself as a social conservative fighting against abortion and gay marriage. Apparently these are values that he doesn’t like to wrap in aluminum and hide in his freezer. Jefferson’s lone big endorsement has come from Mayor Ray Nagin. The race will likely mimic one of the two races that Nagin has won in New Orleans.

Nagin won his first campaign for Mayor with a chunk of the African-American vote and solid support from white voters. White voters have already gone sour on Rep. Jefferson and would most likely swing the election to one of his opponents, most likely Carter. Nagin’s second victory was won by locating and getting out the vote of displaced African-American New Orleans residents. Jefferson is relying on Nagin’s political operation to help him identify and bring these displaced voters to the polls on Nov. 7^th. A large turnout of displaced African-American voters would work to Jefferson’s advantage. Unfortunately for Jefferson, this is an unlikely scenario.

Jefferson may eke out what would be a surprise victory. But even if he were to defeat the octopus on November 7^th Jefferson would still face an even more difficult opponent in the coming year, the long-arm of the law.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at another one of the members of Congress currently under investigation. To see this list refer to this Congresspedia page.

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• Roll Call reports that the Justice Department subpoenaed the e-mails of Rep. [sw: William Jefferson] (D-La.) in the ongoing bribery investigation. Jefferson will have the chance to challenge the release of certain e-mails under the Speech and Debate Clause. The congressman could "be allowed to review them and decide whether he wants to try to assert his privilege under the Speech or Debate Clause and withhold them from the federal prosecutors. Jefferson would then have to file a legal motion in federal court in Alexandria outlining the reasons for why they should not be turned over to federal investigators."
• The manager of MZM, Inc., Richard A. Berglund, was accused of violating FEC rules by illegally donating money to Rep. [sw: Virgil Goode] (R-Va.). MZM, Inc. was one of the chief defense contractors charged with bribing Rep. [sw: Duke Cunningham] and the owner, Mitchell Wade, has since pled guilty to the charges. In this case Berglund stands accused of ""aiding and abetting" a scheme by MZM’s owner to donate the funds in the name of others."
• The money paid to Julie Doolittle, the wife of Rep. [sw: John Doolittle] (R-Calif.), by Jack Abramoff to do fundraising for a charity event is receiving new scrutiny after the Senate Indian Affairs Committee report detailed the dates that she received the payments. Julie Doolittle "received the lion’s share of her monthly retainer fees long after a canceled charity event, which had been the principal reason cited for her $5,000-a-month retainer deal with the admitted felon’s ex-lobbying firm". Julie Doolittle received just $27,000 around the time of the charity event, but later received a seemingly unconnected $40,000 from Abramoff "three weeks after Rep. Doolittle, an avowed anti-gambling Mormon, wrote a letter of support for a tribal client of Abramoff’s seeking to reopen its casino."

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The full House voted unanimously to strip Rep. [sw: William Jefferson] (D-Louis.) of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee.

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• Yesterday the House Homeland Security Committee held hearings on a contract that was awarded to Shirlington Limousine, the limo service allegedly used to ferry prostitutes to [sw: Duke Cunningham] and others, and discoverd that Cunningham had pressed the Department of Homeland Security to ink a contract with the company and that Shirlington had offered its services to DHS prior to receiving a contract. Homeland Security states that they can not find the letter of recommendation from Cunningham. Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker reports that a grand jury is looking into Shirlington’s DHS contract. Ken Silverstein connects the multiple appropriations scandals in one sentance: "Recall also that Jerome Foster, one of the company’s directors, is another defense contractor who was represented by the same lobby shop as Brent Wilkes—the firm of former congressman Bill Lowery (who, coincidentally, is very close to Congressman Jerry Lewis, currently under federal investigation, as I have previously discussed)."
• The Democratic caucus voted 99-58 to strip Rep. [sw: William Jefferson] (D-Lou.) of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, a move prompted by revelations that he allegedly solicited bribes in a wide-ranging conspiracy to use his position in Congress to illegally broker deals with African countries. The "no" votes were comprised primarily of the Congressional Black Caucus with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus joining to vote against the Minority Leader’s push to remove Jefferson. Minority Leader [sw: Nancy Pelosi] (D-Calif.) stated: "This isn’t about proof in a court of law. It’s about an ethical standard … what is acceptable public behavior for a public servant."
• The City of Redlands, California is considering dropping Copeland Lowery as their lobbying firm after having their records subpoenaed in the federal investigation into the practices of the lobbying firm and the practices of Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.). Meanwhile, the City of San Bernardino is mum on whether they have been served a subpoena in the investigation. So far, eight subpoenas have been confirmed by cities, municipalities, and a university.

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• Rep. [sw: William Jefferson] (D-LA) has a lot of friends and Ken Silverstein at the Harper’s.org blog has brought them all together in one place. His friends in the Capitol may be dwindling as the Democratic Caucus is voting right now to decide whether Jefferson will be removed from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Two of the most powerful members of the Congressional Black Caucus, [sw: Charlie Rangel] (D-NY) and [sw: John Lewis] (D-GA), have broken ranks with the CBC, staunch backers of Jefferson, and will vote to remove the troubled congressman from the tax-writing committee.
• The Hill documents the powerful defense industry lobby and their congressional connections. The PMA Group stands out for honorable mention as one of those lobby shops that is filled with former congressional staffers. Don’t forget this little piece about [sw: Pete Visclosky]’s ties to PMA.
• What you say on the campaign trail, stays on the campaign trail. That seems to be the motto for the newest Congress critter, [sw: Brian Bilbray] (R-CA). According to the Club for Growth blog, Bilbray, who holds the infamous Duke Cunningham seat, denounced earmarking on the campaign trail and called for greater transparency. But yesterday Bilbray voted against all of Jeff Flake’s challenges to earmarks in the Transportation-HHS Appropriations bill.
• Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt likes to fly. Mike Leavitt likes to fly on luxury jets that are only intended to be used for emergency purposes. Did I mention Mike Leavitt likes to fly?

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