A Senate committee voted unanimously Wednesday to drop its inquiry into the election of Sen. Mary Landrieu after months of partisan wrangling, the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars and a foray into the roguish world of Louisiana politics.
By a 16-0 vote, the Rules Committee agreed with the recommendation of its chairman, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), to dismiss the investigation triggered by Woody Jenkins, Landrieu’s Republican opponent. Jenkins claimed voter fraud and corruption had cost him the race, which he lost by 5,788 votes out of 1.7 million cast.
In its report to the Senate, which is expected to ratify the recommendation, the committee stated that investigators uncovered a host of election irregularities and “isolated incidences of fraud,” but no evidence compelling enough to overturn the election.
“In the few exceptions of fraud that we have uncovered, there is no evidence of an organized, widespread effort to secure fraudulent votes on behalf of any individual, and certainly no evidence of any effort to secure votes specifically on behalf of Sen. Landrieu,” Warner said.
Beaming after the announcement, Landrieu, a Democrat who has been dogged by Jenkins’ charges since her election, called it a great victory and the “best vote to come out of the Rules Committee in 10 months.”
“It has been an unwelcomed baptism by fire for me in the Senate,” she said, grinning widely.
“No senator, in my opinion, no Republican, no Democrat, should ever have to go through this type of unwarranted and prolonged and costly investigation with no rules and no guidelines, with the whole exercise resting precariously on the vagueness of the traditions of the Senate,” she continued.
Ultimately, the 10-month inquiry cost $250,000 and saddled Landrieu with close to $500,000 in legal fees. She said she will ask the Senate to reimburse her.
Standing in the hallway outside the Rules Committee hearing room, Jenkins said he would not concede the election, which is still being investigated by the district attorney for East Baton Rouge.
Jenkins said, “The Senate has been so partisan it has become difficult to get to the truth.”
The investigation into the election began last December and initially involved a team of lawyers, FBI agents and employees of the General Accounting Office, which conducts inquiries for Congress.
Jenkins charged that thousands of voters cast double votes, were paid to cast votes, or in some cases, were convicted criminals.
The committee’s field investigation turned sour soon after it began in June, when it was revealed that a political operative for Jenkins, Thomas “Papa Bear” Miller, a convicted felon, may have schooled witnesses on how to invent stories of voter fraud. Four of six witnesses recanted their testimony.
The Democrats withdrew from the investigation and yanked out the FBI agents, calling the inquiry a fishing expedition. Last month, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) stepped up demands to end the inquiry and began using parliamentary tactics to slow committee work.
