July 31st, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Charlie Rangel Wants Company in Prison
Though it’s undeniably true, it isn’t customary for a member of Congress on trial for ethics violations defends his actions by saying everyone else did it too.
So hats off for former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY). In authorizing his attorneys to file a 32-page rebuttal to ethics charges that names members of both parties who’ve escaped prosecution for doing similar activities, Rangel is explicitly inviting prosecutors to consider going after other members of Congress.
But before they do that, one of the members Rangel didn’t name is facing her own ethics trial. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) is vowing to fight charges that she improperly steered $12 million worth of financial bailout money to a bank where her husband was a board member.
Even if convicted, Waters probably won’t face a prison term like Rangel. However, if Rangel continues to name names, he may get company in prison. I wonder if they’ll let him name his wing after himself…
July 29th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Rangel: I’m As Ethical As Any of My Fellow Congressional Leaders
Below is one of the latest cartoons from Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.
View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
The Wheels of Justice Grind Slow… House Ethics Not So Quickly
The U.S. House Ethics Committee unanimously voted today to expand its investigation into the finances and reporting thereof by Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Well, that’s good, all of you who believe that corruption by public officials is an important issue (the most important based on a Rasmussen Poll that got little notice last week) might say.
Maybe. But the Ethics Committee investigation has been going on for a year already, and the House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have made it abundantly clear that there will be no move to remove Rangel from his Chairmanship until the investigation is complete, and he has no inclination to voluntarily step aside.
That investigation will now take longer. Much longer.
Due process and thoroughness are important, but one sometimes wonders, particularly with Congressional ethics investigations, if those worthy considerations are actually the motivations driving the ship. The investigation will now take longer. Much longer.
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