NEW ORLEANS (AP) — William Jefferson, who came up from north Louisiana poverty to become the state’s first modern day African-American congressman and one of its most powerful politicians, was expected to report to a federal prison Friday — the latest indignity resulting from a federal investigation that dissolved his power and made him a laughing stock over bribe money hidden in his freezer.
Jefferson, a Harvard-educated lawyer with a master’s degree in taxation from Georgetown, had a soft-spoken, professorial demeanor that belied his reputation as a hardball politician and money-hungry businessman. His opponents dubbed him “dollar bill,” owing in part to his interest in a rent-to-own business in New Orleans that some of his political opponents said charged predatory rates.
The appellation stuck but never seemed to do much damage. True, he lost two runs for mayor of New Orleans and a race for governor, but he built a power-base and strong get-out-the-vote machine among African-American voters that hasn’t been replaced since its erosion amid scandals that touched Jefferson, his brother, two sisters and others.
State Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, said Wednesday that Jefferson’s corruption wound up costing Louisiana dearly in terms of congressional power. Jefferson was a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee before the scandal broke and could have become its chairman.
“It’s unfortunate that that talent and intelligence were not used to better benefit the people of his district and the state,” Murray said during an interview about Jefferson’s downfall
Jefferson, 65, was noticeably absent Wednesday from a reunion in the Senate chamber of roughly two dozen former state senators. He had been an influential state senator from 1980-1990. In 1990, he was elected to the U.S. House from New Orleans, the first black Congress member from New Orleans since Reconstruction.
In Congress, he established himself by 1994 as a top adviser to then-President Bill Clinton on Africa policy. He proclaimed that U.S. investment would “open a new world” for a continent troubled by genocide, disease and corruption.
His ties to Africa eventually led to his downfall.
Jefferson Arrives At Federal Prison, Begins 13-Year Sentence
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