Above the Law by Fiat

Years ago, I got the chance to work with the Miami-Dade SRT which was then the Metro-Dade SRT. Through this interesting experience I made several law enforcement friends from the various jurisdictions. During one of our training exercises is Hialeah, I got to talking with a local officer who proudly told me of the history of corruption in his town. Apparently, the current mayor had served time for racketeering and corruption. Okay, he paid his debt to society but he was convicted while he was mayor of Hialeah before! The crook (way before Barry) got reelected! The prevailing sentiment was that guy was corrupt but knew how to get things done which was preferable to the opposite. That reminds me of the French saying that translates roughly into: "That man is so good, he's of no good to anybody." Okay, I get the point but if that's the general feel, how bad do you have to be to actually get convicted? The utter idiocy of the electorate will never cease to amaze me.

Now on to William Jefferson of the beleagured New Orleans. He's under investigation for accepting bribes to use his influence to pave the way for high tech firms to make entry into Africa. Let's look at the facts thus far. He's been caught with the money. For God's sake, the FBI have him on videotape accepting the money. And he's been implicated by two other people who have plead gulity to bribing him. This case might even be more airtight than Marion Barry's motel hooker party. And true to the Barry mold, Jefferson is already talking about running for reelection where (if Ray Nagin's reelection is any indicator), he'll do just fine.

But it funny to me how we get bipartisan outrage at the FBI's raid of his office. Claiming congressional privilege, Jefferson wants the seized documents returned, unopened. How can any congressional member support him? Why should any of these people be treated any different than any citizen. There is so much money in Congress and so much opportunity for corruption, there should be more transparency, not less. Whether or not he's guilty is not even the issue. Congress should be concerned about the mere appearance of impropriety and work, as Caesar's wife, to be beyond reproach.

The question is quite simple. Should members of Congress enjoy rights specifically pertaining to criminal prosecution that we as ordinary citizens do not enjoy? Citizen or Subject? Where do you stand?