Familiar Territory

Louisiana Democrat Congressman William Jefferson's assets have been frozen by the judge overseeing the criminal case against Jefferson.

The restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III lists two savings accounts with Dryades Savings Bank and Chevy Chase Bank with a combined value of more than $470,000, plus certain stock holdings that Jefferson is barred from liquidating.

Nearly all the cash is in an account belonging to The ANJ Group LLC. The indictment says it is a Louisiana company established in 2001 and controlled by Jefferson's family.

A second, smaller account is under the name W2-IBBS, Limited, which according to the indictment was established in Nigeria and controlled by the informant whose complaints about Jefferson sparked the investigation.

The indictment states that Jefferson demanded an ever larger share of that company — first 5 percent and then finally a 30 percent stake — in exchange for his help brokering a telecommunications deal.

Jefferson is quite familiar with frozen assets as he was caught red-handed with $90,000 in cash stashed in his freezer.

So, what is the House doing about this? Well, they're investigating matters further. The slow motion approach contrasts severely with the handling of various GOPers who found themselves in trouble with the law. Curious how that happens:

The House ethics committee voted Thursday to expand its investigation of indicted Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., to include any subject in a 16-count corruption indictment handed up earlier in the week.

The committee made no mention of possibly expelling Jefferson, even though the House on Tuesday passed a Republican-sponsored resolution directing the panel to report on whether expulsion was warranted.

The ethics committee authorized an investigation of Jefferson last year, and Thursday's vote in closed session reauthorized the probe.

A four-member investigative subcommittee was asked to determine whether Jefferson violated the House's Code of Official conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard.

"We are committed to ensuring that proceedings involving Rep. Jefferson are conducted in a fair manner, and in accordance with the processes established by the committee's standing rules and established precedent," said a statement by panel Chairman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio; and senior Republican Doc Hastings of Washington state. The committee has an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.

The resolution approved by the House, 373-26, directed the committee "to investigate without further delay alleged illegal conduct and violations of House rules by Representative William J. Jefferson and report its findings and recommendations to the House, including a recommendation regarding whether Representative Jefferson should be expelled from the House."

I will give the AP credit here, as they included his political party affiliation in the very first paragraph, which is something the media outlets regularly omit from Democrats, but push when a GOPer is involved.