FREEZER CASH: Not a security risk!

Eight months after stripping Rep. William J. Jefferson of his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to award the lawmaker with a spot on the Homeland Security panel. . . .

Jefferson, the subject of an ongoing federal bribery probe, surprised fellow lawmakers and political observers Dec. 9 when he won election to a ninth term in a close runoff race.

“He’s been in limbo for a long time,” the leadership aide said. “He’s a member of Congress representing his constituents and is working on issues of concern to his district and the country.”

Jefferson has been embroiled in a nearly two-year-old federal investigation focusing on whether the 59-year-old lawmaker accepted bribes when he attempted to help set up some telecommunications deals in Africa for a Kentucky-based company called iGate Inc. Court documents indicate that the FBI has accumulated a significant amount of evidence in the case, including video of Jefferson allegedly accepting a $100,000 cash bribe from an FBI informant.

The case became fodder for late-night talk show comedians after investigators raided his home and found $90,000 in cash tucked away in a freezer.

But he’s not a security risk! (Via Dave Weigel, who writes: “These Democrats are making it really really hard for me to shill for them.”)