In the ongoing saga surrounding Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), the 4th Circuit Appeals court ruled against Jefferson today, refusing to throw out most of the 16 charges against him.

Jefferson had tried to get many of the charges thrown out. Unless Jefferson appeals the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, the trial is set to begin in 2009.

Here's a reminder of the charges:

A familiar face here on the Paid for by... blog, embattled Rep. William Jefferson's (D-LA) political fortunes survived another day and he'll head to a runoff against Helena Moreno on November 4th. (Due to Hurricane Gustav, the state shuffled the calendar around. The runoff will be on Election Day and the general election for the seat will be in December).

Quarterly fundraising reports for federal races were due Tuesday, so the next round of fundraising/fund-racing stories is coming out. Of particular interest, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) continues to raise big bucks from the usual corporate interests, and Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) hits up the members of his family who haven't been indicted for campaign cash.

Sibling rivalry rears it's ugly head. Perhaps jealous of all the attention his indicted brother Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) was getting, Mose Jefferson has gone and gotten himself charged with bribing a school official into purchasing millions in equipment from a company Jefferson worked for. Interesting to note, as USA Today does, the millions in earmarks to the company that made the stuff Mr. Jefferson sold. What a small, small world.

An appellate court decision on the constitutionality of a search of Rep. William Jefferson's office in connection with a bribery investigation may significantly hamper investigations into other members of Congress. The court's ruling may prevent the future use of wiretapping, staff interviews, and office searches.

In question is the "speech or debate" clause:

Hey, let's check in with Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) shall we? The embattled legislator has a trial coming up on conspiracy and bribery charges stemming from a scheme that sounds like it was copied all or in part from the text of Nigerian email scams. And the courtroom drama begins...now!

Looks like the House Ethics Committee investigation of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) will be postponed until his after he heads to court in January to face indictment on 16 counts including soliciting bribes, money laundering, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, conspiracy, and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, to avoid "interfering with the criminal prosecution and related ongoing investigation."

Rep. William Jefferson has pleaded innocent to corruption charges. Partial transcript: "Oh judge (*giggle*) that was somebody else's money in my freezer. Really! I haven't defrosted that thing in years!" His trial is set for January 16th.

Indicted Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) may find himself short on congressional allies these days but maybe he can call up Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) for some tea and sympathy -- yesterday scandal-plagued Doolittle voted against holding House hearings on indicted Members in a move I'd never be so cynical as to suggest was calculated to keep his own goose from being cooked.

The occassion of Rep. William Jefferson's indictment has reignited discussion of what must be done to clean up Washington, cut down on opportunities for corruption, and rehab the image of Congress amid a steady stream of scandal.