Run-Off In LA-02: TIme To Get Rid of William Jefferson

You may remember Rep. William Jefferson. You know, the guy who was the target of a 14-month public corruption probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, and in whose D.C. home the FBI found $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers. That guy.

Well, Jefferson is in a run-off for his Congressional seat against progressive Democrat Karen Carter. The progressive netroots, led by SwingStateProject, MyDD, and DailyKos, has endorsed Carter in an effort to show the country that Democrats will not tolerate corruption no matter the offender's party affiliation. We at the Angry Progressives are happy to add our endorsement, and urge you to visit ActBlue and donate to Karen's run-off campaign.

In a very neat venture, MyDD has raised money to send Tim Tagaris of the Lamont campaign to New Orleans to blog about this race.

"A progressive Democrat, Karen Carter, is challenging him, and we've already endorsed her. But there are two other important themes that Tim is going to cover when he's down there. One is race, which is inescapable in Louisiana and in this election. The second is Katrina, which is also inescapable in this election. We are committed to progressive change and to a progressive agenda. A post-Katrina New Orleans is the domestic symbol of the conservative movement. Not only did underinvestment in a poor and largely black city lead to a devastating disaster, but the promises of the Republican Congress and Bush, the promises they made in our names as American citizens, the promises to rebuild the city, these are promises that we have not kept. Tim is going to New Orleans to remind us of the compact we have as citizens, and as a country. He's going to cover an election because that is how our political dialogue takes place."

This run-off is an opportunity to show America that Democrats mean business.