Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Dollar Bill indicted 

When I learned that Rep Bill "Cold Cash" Jefferson (D-LA) was finally indicted on 16 federal charges including racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering, I thought back to his re-election over Karen Carter last fall. Back then I said:

What an embarrassment-- and just think, this little snafu will pale in comparison to the bad press Jefferson will get when he is indicted this spring and eventually goes to trial, and damning testimony is aired, and he "honorably" refuses to heed calls for his resignation. If Dollar Bill thought his last campaign was "grueling", well, he'll have a whole new appreciation for the word after the next 18 months or so. And the media stormcloud which chronicles Jefferson's legal travails should help his district's recovery.... [Borat pause] .............. Not!

I concentrated my blame on the West Bank voters who voted for Jefferson over Carter (70-30%). Back then I said:

Southern Louisiana is fighting for its life, and it needs federal help to attract federal tax dollars to repair levees and wetlands on both banks. To the rest of the country, Appearance is Reality. They perceive Jefferson as corrupt. Both parties in Washington D.C. perceive him as corrupt, and expect that he will be indicted next year. The Dems have stripped him of his Ways and Means committee seat, and he is the GOP's favorite example of corruption. He was rated as the least effectual member of Congress. Jefferson is stubbornly committed to staying in office even after getting indicted-- an eventuality he expects to happen. We may see a sitting Congressman on trial; a Congressman from a region that is trying desperately to repair its corrupt reputation while it repairs its flood protection and economy. These are Meta-issues that should trump any particular "local" issues.
...
Yet none of these "Meta-issues" about Jefferson's reputation and future ineffectiveness seemed to matter to most West Bank voters, who were largely outside of Jefferson's "machine". I believe a decisive portion of West Bankers decided to vote for Dollar Bill because it was in Derrick Shepherd's long-term interest, or because of Karen Carter's comments in Spike Lee's film (that were widely promoted by Sheriff Harry Lee's anti-Carter mail campaign).

Busting a political machine is not an easy job. I totally understand the votes from people in Jefferson's New Orleans network; they must remain blindly loyal to the end. Same goes for Jefferson's top supporters: Mayor Ray "Politics of the Past" Nagin, and DA Eddie Jordan. Nagin and Jordan's supporters also did what they were told; Jefferson helps "their guy", so they held their nose and voted for him. But what I don't understand are "strategic" conservatives and West Bankers who were outside the machine and still voted for the "crook" over the liberal. They couldn't support a "junior Hillary" socialist so they reelected Dollar Bill because he'd be a thorn in Pelosi's side, and a "great boon" to the GOP (among other things). Suddenly issues like abortions and gays and dehydrated evacuees crossing a bridge became front and center for a populace suffering from the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. Suddenly the "swing vote" groups that held the key to this election believed they would have no say in future elections. ("Better another 18 months of Jefferson rather than 20 years of Karen Carter" was the reasoning-- the same sort of twisted logic "Couhig Conservatives" used to support Nagin over Landrieu). An unfamiliar liberal scared them more than a fraudulent, racketeering, money laundering crook who was committed to staying in office during his trial.

In my next post I'm going to do a profile of State Senator Derrick Shepherd, the West Bank's "favorite son". This spiritual character has built his own Marrero Machine, and many West Bankers re-elected Jefferson because it improved Shepherd's future chances of being "promoted", yet again, to higher office (after the inevitable indictment).

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posted by oyster @ 7:26 AM
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7 Comments:

Oyster, you should compile all your Couhig Conservative posts into a book. Your analysis on their behavior is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the political obstacles standing before Louisiana's recovery. Maybe Chris Rose Books can publish.

By Anonymous bigshot, at 10:09 AM  

I disagree with your analysis. The vote for Jefferson wasn't big in any demographic. Not that many people among white Jeffersonians or Black New Orleanians actually turned out to vote against Carter (or for Jefferson). It wasn't until I read posts by Dambala and Adrastos that I realized that the anti-Jefferson turnout would be so low. I'm not blaming them, BTW, if they had that kind of pull, this city would be a lot better off. But when I read their posts I realized that weren't a whole of people who were going to bother for one crook over another just for the sake of appearances. But if you multiple percentages by turnout, I doubt you'll find a single demographic where Jefferson got more than 15%. The story of that election was the low turnout for Carter.

By Blogger bayoustjohndavid, at 10:57 AM  

I think the story of the election is that Dollar Bill got 70% of the vote in Jefferson Parish.

Turnout was low and some of it was suppressed with bullshit side issues like the Harry Lee's "contempt" for Carter's comments about the CCC closure, and irrelevant social issues like gays and abortion. But the most idiotic side issues were the "strategic concerns" by conservatives and others who believed re-electing the crooked political pariah would best serve their parish or their party's long term interests.

And many of the people who think Jefferson and Carter are two interchangeable "crooks" with nary a dime's worth of difference between them-- a monstrously unfair assessment, btw-- are the same people who were holding out hope that Derrick Shepherd might win or make the runoff for District 2. These people are incredibly misinformed, or willfully delusional.

By Blogger oyster, at 1:25 PM  

Alas, even if Jeff Parish's votes were all discarded, Dollar Bill still wouldda won.

Dammit.

By Anonymous ashley, at 4:23 PM  

This comment has been removed by the author.

By Blogger bayoustjohndavid, at 9:21 PM  

That's still 70% of 20%. Going into the election I thought that the only people that would have anything close to a 50% turnout would be the same people who cared enough to give us consolidated levee boards and consolidated assessors. They didn't turn out to vote in anything like those numbers. Until you can explain that, you can't explain the election. I suppose that part of it was abortion, but not much. I suppose that some of it was people, like Couhig, who still think they're going to be able to elect a Republican. But a lot of it must have been that monstrously unfair assessment.

Whether it's fair or unfair was irrelevant to me, btw. I thought the short term damage of re-electing Dollar Bill was reason enough to vote. Hell, it's partly because we re-elected Jefferson that we're stuck with Blakely.

By Blogger bayoustjohndavid, at 9:27 PM  

Include in Derrick Sheperd's profile his ethics record which was woefully left out of the campaign by other candidates. Shepherd is comping at the bit for Jefferson's job as evidenced by his endorsement.

I have not spent a penny in Jefferson Parish since the election and will continue to have distain for Lee


BinB

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:35 PM