In February, it was widely reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had decided to put Congressman William J. Jefferson (D-Louisiana) on the Homeland Security Committee despite the fact that Jefferson was being investigated on multiple, federal bribery charges. Lawmakers and citizens alike expressed outrage — as was reported in The Washington Post, GovernmentExecutive.com (the Congressional Daily) and The Aviation Nation and others.  

Congressman Peter King, the Homeland Security Committee's other chairman, summed up why Pelosi's move was such a bad idea: 

"It sends a terrible message," said Rep. Peter T. King (N.Y.), the committee's ranking Republican. "They couldn't trust him to write tax policy, so why should he be given access to our nation's top secrets or making policy for national defense?

"Members of the committee have access to intelligence secrets, plots here in the country, overseas, and people under suspicion. This shows how unimportant the Democrats think homeland security is," King said.

This morning, I called the House Homeland Security Committee to determine the current status of Jefferson’s position on the Committee now that the Congressman has officially been charged in soliciting more that $500,000 in bribes while using his office to broker business deals in Africa. I was surprised to learn from the press office that Jefferson never was on the Committee. “He was nominated but not approved,” a Committee spokesman told me. “The position is vacant and has been since January.”

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