Sunflower Desert

Very sad breaking news from Yahoo.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas (news, bio, voting record), a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator’s family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Just before the 2006 election, Thomas was hospitalized with pneumonia and had to cancel his last campaign stops. He nonetheless won with 70 percent of the vote, monitoring the election from his hospital bed.

Two days after the election, Thomas announced that he had just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.

“Wyoming had no greater advocate, taxpayers had no greater watchdog, and rural America had no greater defender than Craig Thomas,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) said Monday night. “The Senate is a lesser place without Craig here, but the state of Wyoming and our nation are much better places because he was here.”

Thomas was a low-key lawmaker who reliably represented the interests of his conservative state, often becoming involved in public lands issues. He worked in behind-the-scenes posts to oversee national parks, including Yellowstone in Wyoming.

He was also an advocate for domestic energy and minerals production. He worked to protect Wyoming’s mining industry from foreign competition and backed efforts to get a federally funded coal gasification plant built in the state.

After his first round of chemotherapy, Thomas returned to the Senate in December, a month earlier than expected. A few months later, he said he felt better than he had in a long time. But he returned to the hospital for a second round of chemotherapy in May.

“I’m resolved to do all I can to keep the leukemia in check,” he said then. “I’ve been feeling very good over the last several months — even returning to my regular morning run. But I’ve always known that further treatments are common and could periodically be part of this thing.”

Thomas entered Congress in a special election in 1989 to replace Dick Cheney when the future vice president was named defense secretary by the first President Bush. Thomas won that race with 52 percent of the vote.

In 1994, Thomas won his first Senate race by beating former Gov. Mike Sullivan 59 percent to 39 percent. Thomas was re-elected by a wide margin in 2000, winning 74 percent of the vote against Democrat Mel Logan and Libertarian Margaret Dawson.

Thomas had previously served five years in the Wyoming Legislature.

He was born in Cody, Wyo., and was raised on a ranch. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in agriculture, then served four years in the U.S. Marines.

He also was vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau and general manager of the Wyoming Rural Electric Association.

He is survived by his wife, Susan, and four children.

May his family be comforted at this sad time.

UPDATE: Tieki Rae has more.

UPDATE:

From the Casper Star Tribune, courtesy of Senator Craig Thomas’s office.

U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas rides in the Cody Stampede’s morning parade on July 4, 2006, to kick off the day’s festivities. Thomas was born and raised in Cody.

Because the title of the article didn’t read, “Louisiana Republican Indicted in Bribery Scandal,” I knew it was a demonRat.

From the non-biased CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.

The indictment handed up Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Don’t panic — he’s a demonRat. I’m confident he won’t see the inside of a prison.

Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case. (Read the indictment [PDF])

Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.

Jefferson, who was in Louisiana on Monday, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The 63-year-old lawmaker, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the looming investigation.

Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson’s home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.

Case’s impact felt in Nigerian election

Two of Jefferson’s associates have already struck plea bargains with prosecutors and have been sentenced.

Brett Pfeffer, a former congressional aide, admitted soliciting bribes on Jefferson’s behalf and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Another Jefferson associate, telecommunications executive Vernon Jackson of Louisville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to paying between $400,000 and $1 million in bribes to Jefferson in exchange for his assistance in securing business deals in Nigeria and other African nations. Jackson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

Both Pfeffer and Jackson agreed to cooperate in the case against Jefferson in exchanges for their pleas.

The impact of the case has stretched across continents and even roiled presidential politics in Nigeria. According to court records, Jefferson told associates that he needed cash to pay bribes to the country’s vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

Abubakar denied the allegations, which figured prominently in that country’s presidential elections in April. Abubakar ran for the presidency and finished third.

Legality of Capitol office raid at issue

Court records indicate that Jefferson was videotaped taking a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant. Most of that money later turned up in a freezer in Jefferson’s home.

Oh, so that’s where the cold cash came from.

In May 2006, the FBI raided Jefferson’s congressional office, the first such raid on a sitting congressman’s Capitol office. That move sparked a constitutional debate over whether the executive branch stepped over its boundary.

The legality of the raid is still being argued on appeal. House leaders objected to the search saying it was an unconstitutional intrusion on the lawmaking process. The FBI said the raid was necessary because Jefferson and his legal team had failed to respond to requests for documents.

I remember. It was Republicans whining about Congressional members being above the law.

Some but not all the documents seized in the raid have been turned over Justice Department prosecutors.

It will be very interesting to see how the media spins this. I’m sure the FBI is only going after Jefferson because he’s black. (For those not familiar with my blogging, that last sentence should be read in a sarcastic tone).

UPDATE: Brit and Grit have this too Hey, Nuke has the story at his place too.

UPDATE: Sweetness & Light has a thread on it too.