He is one for you.

The House ethics committee has suspended its investigation into Rep. William J. Jefferson, acceding to requests from federal prosecutors who believe the congressional inquiry could interfere with the criminal case against the Louisiana Democrat, who was indicted this summer on 16 corruption charges.

The six-member subcommittee handling the inquiry decided to hold off because of concerns from the Justice Department that it “might create legal or factual issues that would complicate or impede the criminal prosecution and related law enforcement efforts in this matter,” the panel’s top lawmakers, Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), said in a statement.

Jefferson, who relinquished all committee posts after his indictment, has denied wrongdoing, and he has vowed to fight all criminal charges and to continue to serve in the House. His attorney, Robert P. Trout, declined to comment yesterday.

On June 4 a federal grand jury charged Jefferson with taking about $400,000 in bribes for himself and his family in exchange for his official work in promoting business and trade deals in seven West African nations. He is the first member of Congress to be charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars bribery of foreign officials. Jefferson was caught on tape accepting $100,000 from a cooperating witness who, according to the FBI, gave the lawmaker the money with the expectation that it would go to a Nigerian official

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Indicted Congressman William Jefferson has sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi indicating he will temporarily step down from his committee seat until his case is resolved.

“In the light of recent developments in a legal matter involving me in the Eastern District of Virginia, I hereby request a leave from my duties as a member of the House Small Business Committee pending my successful conclusion of that matter,” Jefferson wrote.

“In doing so, I, of course, express no admission of guilt or culpability in that or any other matter that may be pending in any court or before the House of Representatives,” he wrote, adding that he has supported all the Democratic ethics and lobbying reform measures passed this year.

That relieves the Speaker of having to remove him from his assignment and facing the ire of the Congressional Black Caucus.

When Speaker to be Nancy Pelosi campaigned last year she campaigned against the Republican “culture of corruption”.

With yesterday’s indictment of William Jefferson, Speaker Pelosi is being watched to see what she plans to do with the indicted congressman.

Some expect her to discharge him from his committee asignment on the Small Business Committee and some are speculating a delegation will go to Congressman Jefferson and ask him to resign his House seat.

This doesn’t appear to be going over too well with the Congressional Black Caucus.

Through it all, much of the Congressional Black Caucus has stood by Jefferson and against the Democratic leadership. And yesterday, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), a veteran caucus member, said it would be “as supportive of our colleague as possible, in terms of saying a person in America is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.”

Pelosi would not say what actions she would take, but she called the charges “extremely serious” and, if true, “an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.”

“Democrats are committed to upholding a high ethical standard and eliminating corruption and unethical behavior from the Congress,” she said.

The Democratic steering committee, which sets committee assignments, will convene this week to consider whether to remove Jefferson from his last committee post: a seat on the Small Business Committee, a relative backwater of power. Senior House Democratic leadership aides said he almost certainly would be dropped. Some leadership aides suggested emissaries could be dispatched within days to ask for Jefferson’s resignation from the House.

“I can’t imagine that based on what’s happened and what we’ve done [on ethics rules changes and lobbying legislation] that at the very least, he’ll be asked to step down from committee,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), who stressed that he was not speaking for the leadership. “We’ve set down a pretty clear marker about what’s going to be expected.”

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