Is Congress Madder About Bribery, or About a Search?

Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) is in big trouble thanks to a bribery scandal, and this is complicating the Dems plan to paint the GOP as the party with a "culture of corruption":

Democrats' plans to make Republican corruption a theme of their election strategy this year have been complicated by accusations of wrongdoing in their own ranks, leading the party to try on Monday to blunt the political effects of the unfolding case against Representative William J. Jefferson.

Democratic leaders sought to distance the party from Mr. Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat who has been accused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. In doing that, the leaders tried to draw a distinction between the accusations against him and what they said was a much broader pattern among Republicans of trading legislative influence for campaign donations, trips and other perks.

[...]

In court documents made public on Sunday, the F.B.I. said Mr. Jefferson had taken bribes to help a small technology company win federal contracts and to help it with business deals in Africa. The F.B.I. said he had concealed $90,000 from the scheme in the freezer of his home in Washington.

As part of the investigation, Jefferson's Washington office was searched, and believe it or not, members of both parties seem to be more upset about the search than they are about the charges:

For all the intense partisanship that has surrounded the wave of legal and ethical cases on Capitol Hill, the Jefferson case brought some Democrats and Republicans together on one point: that the all-night search conducted by the F.B.I. raised questions about whether the executive branch had violated the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers by carrying out a raid on the official office of a member of Congress.

Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said Monday that he had concerns about the constitutionality of the search and was seeking a legal opinion. Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader in the House, said that "Justice Department investigations must be conducted in accordance with constitutional protections and historical precedent." Some House Republicans said they were also disturbed by the way the search was handled.

"I think it is really outrageous," said Representative David Dreier, the California Republican who is chairman of the Rules Committee.

Are they suggesting that their offices are completely off limits to Federal investigations? If that's true, then congressmen could feel free to store any amount of contraband or conduct any kind of criminal activity in their Capitol Hill digs. Glenn Reynolds thinks they have a pretty weak case, and adds this:

At any rate, members of Congress who are offended by an unannounced late-night raid on an office might profitably be asked what they think about late-night unannounced raids on private homes, which happen all the time as part of the Congressionally-mandated War on Drugs.

If anything, it ought to work the other way. I think if you searched 435 randomly selected American homes, and 435 Congressional offices, you just might find more evidence of crime in the latter. . . .

I think Republicans would be wise to shut-up on the issue of the search. This is a loser for them, and unless they want to be painted as more interested in protecting their precious offices than protecting the taxpayers from corruption, they'd better back out of this argument and fast.