[StBernard] For rent: 2BR, 1BA incl. freezer -- but no cold cash

[Westley Annis]

Want an insider's peek into the life of a sitting congressman? This might be
your chance. 
For $1,300 per month, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, offers the
attic of his Uptown home for rent, complete with a pair of off-street
parking spaces and access to the in-ground, backyard swimming pool. 
It's the same house, at 1922 Marengo St., that FBI agents swarmed on Aug. 3,
2005, as part of coordinated raids that also targeted the nine-term
congressman's government office and his Capitol Hill home, where they
discovered $90,000 in marked bills in the freezer. Agents left the Marengo
Street house carrying a half-dozen boxes. 


Jefferson won re-election in December despite the specter of the federal
probe and with much of his traditional base dispersed by Hurricane Katrina.
He has not been charged with a crime and has promised to provide "an
honorable explanation" against allegations of corruption tied to his
business dealings in Africa. 
Jefferson's spokeswoman said Friday that the "For Lease" sign in the front
yard of the century-old New Orleans property does not mean the congressman
and his wife are leaving the neighborhood they have called home for three
decades. 
After the last of their five daughters moved out, the couple simply wanted
to capitalize on their extra space, spokeswoman Remi Braden-Cooper said. She
said the Jeffersons have leased the third-floor apartment in the past, and
after repairing a roof ripped off by Katrina and restoring the interior,
they put it back on the market. 
"They figured, why not put it up for rent again?" Braden-Cooper said.
"There's big demand right now. People need places to live. . . . It just
didn't make any sense to have this place that's all fixed up to be sitting
up there without any renters, especially in New Orleans." 
A listing on Latter & Blum's Web site says the 1,500-square-foot apartment
has two bedrooms and one bathroom, a large den, a furnished cbkitchen and
carpet throughout. 
The Jeffersons will not allow pets, according to the listing. The tenant
must pay for electricity and gas, but not water. 
A new income stream could come in handy for Jefferson during a time when he
is racking up hefty legal bills, which in complex public-corruption cases
quickly can climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He already has
begun tapping friends and campaign donors for help: Federal records show
that as of June, he collected $129,500 in a legal defense trust fund. 
As a member of Congress, Jefferson earns $165,200 annually.