The House of Representatives and Louisiana politics got a little less dirty today. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson has lost his bid for a 10th term representing Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District. Jefferson was indicted on sixteen criminal counts of racketeering, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice – in addition to infamously diverting a National Guard helicopter from rescue operations to ferry him to his house so he could recover valuables post-Katrina.
Jefferson was defeated by Republican challenger Anh “Joseph” Cao. Cao is the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress. He came to the US from Saigon as one of the 500,000 or so “Vietnamese Boat People” who fled their country when the North Vietnamese Army overran Saigon. This has got to be a happy day for Americans of Vietnamese descent – they endured a lot of hardship and prejudice as they arrived in America. Congratulations, Ahn!
One and a half million people were either murdered, sent to re-education camps, or forced to flee Vietnam by Ho Chi Minh’s communist government. It’s a lesson those who want the US to abandon Iraq or rail about US imperialism seem to have forgotten.
Joseph Cao is a great pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps story, regardless of political party. Louisiana and the US as a whole are better off with this former refugee replacing Cold Cash in the House.
Posted by Baron Von Ottomatic
