La.'s Jefferson Fights to Stay in Office

A dozen candidates are challenging Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat who FBI agents say was found with $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer. Jefferson denies any impropriety.

The Nov. 7 election is the first time Jefferson has been threatened with defeat since elected to the House in 1990.

"We wouldn't be in the race if not for our friend Jefferson's problems," says Spencer Washington of New Orleans, a supporter of candidate and former New Orleans city councilman Troy Carter.

Louisiana has an open primary system, meaning all 13 candidates regardless of party will appear on the ballot. If no one gets more than 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters face off in a December runoff.

Jefferson faces eight Democrats — including two state representatives and a former city councilman — three Republicans and one Libertarian.

The race is not likely to shift the balance of power in the House. The district, made up mostly of New Orleans residents, is overwhelmingly Democratic. If Jefferson loses, his successor will be a Democrat, political observers here say.

"That district is not going to vote for a Republican — a white Republican especially," says Hastings Wyman, editor of the Southern Political Report.

Jefferson is Louisiana's only black congressman. New Orleans has a black majority even though more blacks than whites remain displaced since Hurricane Katrina virtually emptied the city in August 2005.

According to returns from last spring's mayoral election, the city is about 55% black, down from more than 67% before Katrina.

Less than half of the city's 460,000 residents have returned, but displaced residents may still vote in the November election if they remain registered in Louisiana.

Challengers to Jefferson say the coming years are too important to the city to be left to a man who may be preoccupied with defending himself.

This is the first federal race for state Rep. Karen Carter (no relation to Troy Carter), who represents half a dozen New Orleans neighborhoods. She says the district needs new leadership to get through years of recovery from Katrina.

"We're going to be at the federal trough for the next 10 years, minimum, asking for help," she says.

"We need a credible, respected voice coming from the 2nd District."

In an interview Monday, Jefferson denied the bribery allegations and said he is confident of re-election.

"No matter what anybody says, I am innocent," he said.

Jefferson, 59, says voters will re-elect him on his record after Katrina, particularly his co-authorship of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, or "Go Zone," which gives tax breaks to businesses along the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.

An FBI affidavit written in support of a search warrant alleges that Jefferson took money to help a Kentucky technology company called iGate win lucrative contracts in Africa. He has not been formally charged in the FBI sting operation.

In an affidavit sworn out in late May to obtain a search warrant for the congressman's office, the FBI describes Jefferson retrieving a briefcase filled with $100,000 from a car parked outside the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Va. An unnamed witness who is an iGate investor alleged Jefferson planned to use the money to coax African officials into deals.

Four days later the FBI raided Jefferson's homes in New Orleans and Washington. The FBI found $90,000 of the cash, which was marked, wrapped in foil in his Washington freezer.

The May 20 raid on his Capitol Hill offices was criticized by leaders of both political parties, who said it was a violation of the constitutional separation of powers.

Two of Jefferson's associates have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the FBI. Vernon Jackson, chief executive of iGate Inc., was sentenced Friday to 87 months in prison.

Louis Smith, 27, says he is voting for Jefferson.

"I like what he's been doing, and he's innocent until proven guilty," said Smith, who was taking a break Monday from installing countertops to eat barbecued ribs on his sheltered patio.

Jefferson's opponents are highlighting not only the congressman's alleged misdoings but his consequent loss of power in the House. In June, House Democrats removed him from his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

"When you don't have that position anymore and the seniority you'd otherwise be able to tout means nothing, you can't deliver what we need in the post-Katrina world," Karen Carter says. "It's absolutely critical that we have effective leadership when we make the ask (for money) year after year to rebuild this region."

Despite the long odds, the Republicans have not given up.

Political newcomer Joe Lavigne has waged a vigorous campaign with a profusion of yard signs and ads.

"I don't think it's as long a shot as people think," says Lavigne, 30, an attorney.

"The issues are not Republican or Democratic issues," he says. "The issue is how we're going to rebuild New Orleans bigger and better."