Jefferson, with federal help, loots his own home

While almost every elected Democrat around the New Orleans area has been blasting away at everybody but themselves to assess the problems prior to and after Hurricane Katrina (to deflect criticism from themselves), practically no rhetoric about relief operations has come from the flooded city’s Member of Congress, Democrat Rep. William Jefferson. Until now.

It turns out that Jefferson commandeered National Guard forces and looted his own home. He came well-prepared: first just one truck and a few soldiers, soon followed by another, with a helicopter visit in-between. It’s possible that these forces, utilized by Jefferson over the span of a couple of hours, actually might have been used to rescue desperate people and restore order during that interval, but given the federal government’s incompetence under Pres. George W. Bush according to Jefferson’s co-partisans, surely this was the best use of these resources.

It’s also possible that Jefferson looted his own residence because he wanted to grab sensitive materials before somebody else from the federal government got a chance to loot them first. He said he removed nothing relevant to this investigation into his alleged corruption and honesty. Guess that settles that.

So know we know why Jefferson’s only real public statements about the disaster have come on the floor of Congress and have been lauding the government response. After all, it did provide him the means by which to carry out his Operation Recover Hope. And, he might as well take advantage of his position while he has it, because if the government doesn’t convict him first or his district doesn’t disappear, what few waterlogged voters will be left in his district in 2006 may not find his mission during the height of the crisis all that amusing.