Brett Pfeffer, a former legislative assistant to U. S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana, was sentenced May 27 by a judge in Alexandria to eight years in prison for conspiring to bribe the embattled Louisiana Democrat. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III told Pfeffer that his sentence could be reduced significantly for cooperation with investigators. But, “it would be difficult to overstate the seriousness of this offense,” Ellis said at Pfeffer’s hearing. In January, Pfeffer, 37, pleaded guilty in Federal Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit bribery and aiding and abetting the solicitation of bribes by a member of...