Amid Katrina Chaos, Congressman Used National Guard to Visit Home

[Brightmore]

Amid Katrina Chaos, Congressman Used National Guard to Visit Home
ABC News
JAKE TAPPER
September 13, 2005

Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings — even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC News has learned.

On Friday, Sept. 2 — five days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast — Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., who represents New Orleans and is a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the military blockades set up around the city to reach the Superdome, where thousands of evacuees had been taken.

Military sources tells ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democratic congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A 5-ton military truck and a half dozen military police were dispatched.

Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district. According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.

Full story

[bluestateguy]

1. I'm not sticking my neck out to defend Jefferson

His seat is safely Democratic anyway.

[fearnobush]

2. And what about those 250 firemen Bush sent back to N.Carolina

after his bullshit photo op. Not to justfy Jefferson behavior, Bush does this stuff an a daily basis Ten fold.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. So what? This is a non issue

The guy was touring his neighborhood, grabbed a few things and in the meantime people were rescued. What utter crap!

[Kagemusha]

4. I shall quote from Josh Marshall, then.

"Last month, you may remember, Jefferson's homes in the District and New Orleans were raided as part of a federal criminal investigation, the precise nature of which has yet to become clear."

Grabbed a few things. Yes, he did...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Not familiar with that story

what crime is he accused of..any?

[Moosepoop]

13. The feds had already raided his house

as well as his other house, his car, and his accountant's house.
I would imagine they had already taken whatever materials were relevant to their investigation of a high-tech firm's finances.

[kath]

7. Did you read the whole story? Two large military trucks ended up being

involved (because the first one got stuck in mud - it pulled up onto the lawn so the Congressman wouldn't have to get his widdle feet wet walking through water), PLUS a rescue copter that was in the middle of doing rescues. Quite a bit of time elapsed while all this was going on. People were dying in attics during this time.

C'mon, if this story is true and if this had been a Repug congresscritter we'd all be screaming bloody murder.

[krkaufman]

9. Yes, let's call a spade a spade, a crook a crook, etc.

If the facts are as reported, his actions are deplorable.

However, this one man's pettiness and selfishness in no way lessens Bush's failings and responsibility for the Katrina disaster. There plenty of blame, and accounting, to go around.

[Llewlladdwr]

12. Unfortunately, It is an issue.

Congressman Jefferson should not have stopped even if they passed directly by his house. You think the Guard would have driven him in if he were a regular Joe? All this does is create an oportunity to yell "Democrat corruption!"

[bluedonkey]

6. Didn't he

have a visit from the FBI recently.Can't for the life of me remember what it was about.They did cart away a bunch of boxes.
Jindal checked on his house too,right after the hurricane.

[roguevalley]

8. the bastard. I wonder how people can sleep at night with

the stuff they do. if you feel the urge to defend him, read the story from will pitt. it could be those ng guys were the ones who were supposed to save the people that man saved looking for his girl.

[krkaufman]

10. Of course, Freepies will smirkingly ask...

"What else would you expect from someone named William Jefferson?"

[ladylibertee]

11. I saw the story on ABC...At first I thought; " What a devastating blow

to our party and what we have been trying to confront,' but then I listened to what he had to say and it's more of a they said/ he said so,it doesn't seem to hold any weight to it.

[lynne]

14. Sorry, but IMO anyone willing to defend his actions -

- is so blinded by their personal politics that they have forgotten the difference between right and wrong.

[stillcool]

15. Sorry, but in my opinion...

anyone who swallows whole any one article written during this political environment does not have a grasp on reality.

<Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him.

"I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city," Jefferson told ABC News. "There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on. They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both to the convention center, the Superdome and uptown." >

[marshall]

19. Lots to investigate, not just this

In the end I think there will be lots of little cases where individuals acted in their own best interest rather than their fellow citizens--such as the owners of St. Rita's nursing home and this congressman. The plan the city had set up prior to this emergency relied heavily on people helping each other. Praise should be directed to those who did, and shame to those who did otherwise.

[marshall]

16. Amid Katrina Chaos, Congressman Used National Guard to Visit Home

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1123495&page=1

Must have been some mighty important things he had to get at home.

[Eugene]

17. Caution: Google Jerry Hauer before taking his commentary at face value

Jefferson is a Democrat. Jerry Hauer is a Guiliani protege.
Take his righteous outrage with a ton of salt.

Rep. Jefferson has some explaining to do about the excursion
to his home, but the trip to the Superdome and his district
was legitimate.

[confludemocrat]

18. The innuendos here are thick; he was right to go there, no one else was

So what if he stopped at his house? You would. He is being investigated by the Repugnantlican U. S. attorney or whatever for a crime, you say, got news: you still are considered innocent until proven guilty. Use your energy at that other thread condemning Bush's latest attempted power grab. This is a thread like the knee-jerk condemnation here two weeks ago of stranded people scavenging for food as simply terrible looters. They didn't know enough to make the blanket statements they did in condemning all "looters" and people doing the same kind of of thing again here are similar: you don't know enough about the story, but think you know it all.