DIRECTING THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT TO RESPOND TO THE INDICTMENT OF ANY MEMBER OF THE HOUSE -- (House of Representatives - June 05, 2007)
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Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, my position is similar to that of the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
I had the opportunity the last 2 days to be down in the gulf coast, to be in New Orleans today, and quite frankly, Mr. Jefferson is entitled to a presumption of innocence. That is the way of our judicial system and our code in this country.
Mr. Speaker, first, I rise in support of this resolution. An investigation needs to be conducted. We need to have the Ethics Committee take a look at this.
But I would also suggest to this House that when someone, anyone, is under indictment, it's a difficult position for him to do justice to himself or herself and to also do justice for their particular district, and those concerns were raised by people in New Orleans today, as well as in the newspaper.
So, as with Mr. Carney, I would suggest that the Ethics Committee take a good long look at this, that Mr. Jefferson obviously is going to take a good long look. I would suggest that he do justice to himself, prepare his defense, and that his district have someone else.
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