That Representative William Jefferson (D-La) has engaged in felonious behavior is true beyond a doubt. But that behavior did not end with Mr. Jefferson. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seem more concerned with stretching and contorting the Constitution than enforcing the law.

And, President Bush is once again making nice when he should instead be letting the FBI do its job.

The FBI bribery investigation of Mr. Jefferson had reached a point in which the FBI required documents in Mr. Jefferson’s possession. For nine months, Jefferson refused to honor subpoenas for the documents. So, the FBI went to a judge and obtained a warrant. They executed a standard raid on Mr. Jefferson’s congressional office and confiscated the documents described in the warrant. Nice, clean, and legal.

But then along came Hastert and Pelosi, crying to President Bush that the raid was in conflict with the Separation of Powers. Bush caved, and the documents have been ordered sealed for 45 days. This, after a similar FBI raid on Jefferson’s homes in Louisiana and Washington, DC had yielded significant evidence against him. That evidence included $90,000 stashed in his freezer.

Apparently concerned by public outrage over his actions, Hastert wrote an Op/Ed for USA Today defending his actions, in which he states…

“The issue that has concerned me, as Speaker, since Saturday night is not if the FBI should be able to search a member of Congress' office, but rather how to do it within the boundaries of the Constitution.”

Is a search warrant less constitutional for a politician than for you or me? It’s worth noting here that Mr. Jefferson had plenty of time to dispose of any incriminating evidence, but hadn’t done so. Could it be that he was confident of his safety as long as that evidence was in his congressional office? If that is the case, then I wonder how many other skeletons are stuffed in the closets of congress?

And how can we consider ourselves to be a free nation if those who make law are not subject to the law? How can there be any semblance of accountability when a congressional office becomes a safe haven for lawbreakers? The Founders intended for government to be directly answerable to We The People. Sadly, this has not been the case for many years. With few exceptions, our elected leaders are far too intoxicated with power to remember who gave them that power.

I am thankful for those few who feel that the law should be applied equally to everyone. In an Associated Press article, Senator Bill Frist said, "No House member, no senator, nobody in government should be above the law of the land, period…"

I’ll agree that elected leaders should not be held to the same standard as common folk. They should be held to a higher standard. By reducing the principle of Separation of Powers to a political turf war, Hastert and Pelosi have insulted both the Constitution and the American people.


Related Reading

Hastert Op/Ed at USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-05-25-debate-anotherview_x.htm

Raid on Jefferson's Office Prompts Hearing
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200605/NAT20060525b.html

Frist Defends FBI Search of Rep. Jefferson's Office
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197313,00.html


Alan Burkhart is a freelance political writer, cross-country trucker, and proud citizen of the reddest of the Red States - Mississippi. You can reach him via e-mail at: alan@alanburkhart.com or by visiting his website: www.alanburkhart.com.