I guess that Nancy Pelosi forgot to send her ethics memo to the voters of New Orleans.

Brushing past months of unflattering headlines about a federal corruption investigation, Representative William J. Jefferson was elected to a ninth term on Saturday, with a decisive runoff victory that again emphasized this cityÂ’s sharp racial divisions.

Mr. Jefferson, a Democrat, was heavily favored in black precincts, and SaturdayÂ’s result suggested that his loyal constituents ignored the accusations of an F.B.I. investigation and rallied around him, as they had in the past and as the congressman had pleaded with them to do. He has not been charged with anything, and vigorously maintains his innocence.

A dominant figure in Louisiana politics for more than 20 years, Mr. Jefferson, 59, is at the center of a political organization that is influential at several levels of elected office in this city.

With slightly more than a third of the precincts reporting, Mr. Jefferson led his Democratic challenger, Karen Carter, 37, a lawyer and Louisiana state representative, with just more than 60 percent of the vote late Saturday. Mr. Jefferson ran especially strong in suburban Jefferson Parish, about a third of the district, where the sheriff had come out against Ms. Carter. She conceded around 10:15 p.m. Central time.

The election did not affect the DemocratsÂ’ new majority in Congress but was nonetheless being followed in Washington, where there was concern about the potential pall a Jefferson victory could cast on the partyÂ’s new emphasis on ethics. Democratic leaders kicked Mr. Jefferson off the House Ways and Means Committee last summer in response to the Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into his financial dealings. The state party refused to endorse him.

Let's see -- Murtha, Hastings Mollohan, and now Jefferson -- what will Pelosi do about these unethical/criminal members of her own caucus?

And by the way, I think that Jefferson's reelection shows the need to get Baker and Hamilton working on a "New Orleans Study Group" that will set a path for US withdrawal from that cesspool of corruption where success is impossible for those who seek to impose honest government.

Update: A Quandry for Democrats

More at Michele Malkin

Update 2: Looks like another unethical Dem in high places. What will Nancy do? H/t Michelle Malkin.

Posted by: Greg at 02:13 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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