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Politics
New position for lawmaker is criticized
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published February 17, 2007
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who stripped embattled Rep. William Jefferson of his seat on a powerful tax committee last year, has decided to put him on the Homeland Security panel, infuriating some Republicans who say he may be a security risk. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, was kicked off the Ways and Means Committee amid a federal investigation into whether he accepted bribes related to a telecommunications deal in Africa. Pelosi, D-Calif., is giving him a seat on the panel after Jefferson was outspoken in his criticism of the homeland security agencies that responded to Hurricane Katrina. His appointment must still be formally approved by the rest of the House Democrats. The decision came under fire from the top Republican on the committee, Rep. Peter King of New York. "It sends a terrible message," King said Friday. "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?" Jefferson's chief of staff, Eugene Green, called King's criticism "ridiculous and just politics."
[Last modified February 17, 2007, 00:44:51]
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