From: DR. KIPRONOH RUTTOH
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 9:37 PM
FOR THE AG. AMOS WAKO AND THE KENYAN POLITICIANS HERE IS WHAT THE UNITED STATES, MEAN WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION.
SPHERE NEWSPAPER
(ALEXANDRIA VIRGINIA USA.)
Ex-Congressman Gets Harsh Sentence: 13 Years in Prison
POSTED: 11/13/09
SHAREALEXANDRIA, Va. (Nov. 13)
Former Rep. William Jefferson, the first African-American to win a
congressional seat in Louisiana since Reconstruction, took on the added
distinction Friday of receiving the harshest sentence ever given to a member of Congress for a public corruption conviction.
U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, hoping to send a message to deter
others in Congress, handed down a sentence of 13 years in prison, far
surpassing the previous record sentence of eight years and four months given to former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Next week, the judge will announce when the prison term begins.
“You’re obviously a person of gifts and those gifts have been squandered,” Ellis told Jefferson, who stood silently in the courtroom as his wife, five daughters and brother sat behind him.
ALSO SEE: How a Political Dynasty Slid Into Disgrace
“Public corruption is a cancer that must be removed,” Ellis said, adding at one point, “There must be some sort of greed virus that attacks people in power.”
“You’ve made some very bad choices,” the judge continued.
Jefferson was convicted on Aug. 5 on 11 of 16 counts of public corruption that centered on charges that he used his office and staff to enrich himself and his family. The government alleged that he accepted $478,000 in bribes to promote business ventures in seven African nations, but he had hoped to take in a lot more.
Dethroned by a Republican in his bid last year for a 10th term in a heavily Democratic district, Jefferson became fodder for the late-night comics when word got out that he had socked away $90,000 in FBI-marked bills in the freezer of his Capitol Hill home. The FBI money had been given to him by Virginia businesswoman Lori Mody, who was working as an informant after she complained that she was being ripped off in African business ventures that involved Jefferson.
The cash was supposed to help bribe the vice president of Nigeria, but the FBI seized it during raids staged just days later.
Friday’s sentence fell far short of the 27 to 33 years prosecutors had
recommended based on their reading of federal sentencing guidelines. But Jefferson’s attorney sought a sentence of less than 10 years, citing his client’s public service over the years.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle painted a much different picture in
presenting his case that Jefferson had turned his office into a criminal
enterprise and had set up sham companies to receive bribes using his wife daughters and sons-in-law.
During today’s sentencing hearing, Lytle made reference to the $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer that became a subject of many jokes, but he also added that the congressman’s corrupt behavior “was no laughing matter,” saying “all citizens are harmed by it.”
Judge Ellis left little doubt that he was planning to go beyond
Cunningham’s record sentence for this case. The bar was already set high when he handed down fairly harsh sentences for two lesser figures in the Jefferson case. Brett Pfeffer, Jefferson’s former aide and employee of Mody, pleaded guilty to bribery and got eight years. Vernon Jackson, the owner of iGate, a high-tech company that Jefferson was helping to secure lucrative contracts in Africa, got seven years and three months.
In issuing his sentence, the judge acknowledged that Jefferson had already paid a high price, saying, “I’m confident you don’t need to be further deterred.”
How a Political Dynasty Slid Into Disgrace
POSTED: 11/13/09
SPHERE (Nov. 13, 2009)
Down in New Orleans, in Bayou country, the Jefferson family was a
political force to be reckoned with.
The patriarch, former Rep. William Jefferson, headed a political machine called the Progressive Democrats. His power base included his sister Betty, a 4th District Assessor; his brother Mose, a political operative; brother-in-law Alan Green, a state judge; and daughter Jalila
Jefferson-Bullock, a Harvard-educated lawyer and state representative, who was hoping one day to replace her father in Congress.
Fast-forward to today. The political dynasty is not only dead, but you need a scorecard to track who in the family is off to prison and who is awaiting trial.
Tulane University political science professor Brian J. Brox says that,
simply put, the dynasty rose from humble beginnings and showed some of the best aspects of American politics, but ultimately the worst: “power for power’s sake, power for personal gain.”
That credo wound up being the undoing of the family.
William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison after
being convicted this summer of 11 of 16 counts of public corruption. Federal prosecutors say Jefferson, 62, took $478,000 in bribes in schemes involving business ventures in Africa, and he had hoped to get much more. Last year, he lost his bid for a 10th term in Congress to a Republican in a Democratic-dominated district.
Jefferson was not alone in his misdeeds. His wife, Andrea, and brother Mose were never charged in the case, but were named as unindicted
co-conspirators.
Brother-in-law Green was convicted of bribery in 2006 and sentenced to 51 months in prison as part of Operation Wrinkled Robe, a wide FBI probe into judicial corruption at the Jefferson Parish Courthouse.
Sister Betty Jefferson, the 4th District Assessor and a political
operative, is awaiting trial, along with her daughter Angela Coleman and
Mose Jefferson, on charges of skimming more than $600,000 from three charities they controlled. The family’s youngest sister, Brenda Jefferson, has pleaded guilty in that case and has agreed to cooperate.
Regardless of the outcome of that trial, Mose Jefferson appears headed for prison. He was convicted in August for bribing school board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms with $140,000 to push through a lucrative contract. His sentencing is set for next month in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.
None of this bodes well for one of Jefferson’s five daughters,
Jefferson-Bullock, a lawyer who served as a state representative from 2004 to 2007. She appeared to have a promising political future but lost a bid for a state Senate seat in 2007 that had once been held by her father
She is not facing any criminal charges. But the New Orleans Times-Picayune last year reported that she, as well as former City Councilwoman and state Rep. Renee Gill Pratt, the girlfriend of Mose Jefferson, had steered millions of dollars over the course of a decade or so to the three charities in question.
Observers say many in New Orleans are either angry or disappointed in
Jefferson, who championed the causes of the common man. But there are some who still stand by him — evident in the number of letters that were recently submitted to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, asking that he go easy on Jefferson.
The Rev. Tom Watson, a pastor who wrote one of those letters, said, “Bill always gave of himself beyond the call of duty, particularly in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” and added, “It is my hope that you will
consider the many positive contributions Bill has made to our community, and that you will be as lenient as possible.”
Jefferson’s story is all the more painful when you read this humbling
passage filed in a court document last week:
“I was born on a small cotton farm in northeast Louisiana. I am the sixth
of ten children of Mose and Angeline Jefferson. My parents were deeply
religious. My father was head deacon and superintendent of our Sunday
School. My mother was deaconess at our church and in charge of youth programs there. I loved and respected them completely and wanted and have tried to be like them. We were poor, and we had to work long hours in the cotton fields to make ends meet. But I never felt deprived and had a very happy childhood.”
He went on to Harvard Law School, served in the state Senate and then in 1990 became the first African-American elected to Congress from the state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. The rest should have been an American dream story.
“It’s just kind of sad,” political science professor Brox said, “that
someone who started with so little, who can make such an important
contribution, chose the other path.”
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Subject: WARNING TO CORRUPT KENYAN POLITICIANS