Posted on 11/20/2010 7:18:07 AM PST by Kaslin
Leave it to Congress to create a punishment one is hard-pressed to identify. Rangel deserves much worse, as his crimes would put you or me behind bars.
Charles Rangel has been found guilty of 11 of the 13 charges filed against him, with two of the charges having been rolled into one. As punishment for his crimes/violations, the chief counsel of the House ethics committee, Blake Chisam, recommended a sentence of censure for the disgraced congressman to the full House, despite Rangels protestations for a drop of fairness and mercy in a prepared statement read prior to the start of the hearing.
Not only does the punishment not fit the crime, it is in fact no punishment at all.
According to AOL News:
Censure is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution — it falls under Congress right to adopt resolutions. … Censure is stronger than a rebuke, but not as strong as an expulsion. It is a formal, open reprimand given to a member of Congress for going against its standards of ethics and behavior.
In other words, Rangel must stand in the well of Congress and have the members tell him he behaved poorly. No, really.
Pursuant to the gravity of the charges he was found guilty of, this is beyond nonsense. One charge alone is that Rangel failed to pay taxes for 17 years on Punta Cana, his Dominican luxury beachfront villa that he keeps booked solid year round. With the battery of attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors that people like Rangel have, are we to honestly believe he had a luxury resort property and somehow forget to pay taxes on it, and no one remembered to remind him … for 17 years?
Regarding Obama, Pelosi, et al. banging the drum regarding how the rich arent paying their fair share, should we assume they had good old Charlie in mind?
Rep. Jo Bonner, R-AL, was concise in his opening statement to the committee:
For the small business woman who didnt pay her taxes for 17 years and had the IRS breathing down her back, [we] can only imagine how she would have liked to have the chance to help write the tax code of this country and make it less burdensome and simpler for everyone else.
Rangels repeated fallback was that he was only guilty of sloppy bookkeeping and disorganization. Not altogether surprisingly, Chisam saw it exactly the same way — even though it sounded as if his tongue caught in his throat as he said it was his opinion that Rangel had not intentionally tried to make gains or use his position as influence.
Of course, that was exactly what he was trying to do. How else are we to interpret his targeting corporations having legislative business before his committee to make donations to a City College of New York building that bears his name? Rangel is about to get what appears to be a complete pass for actions that, as I have previously written, were they committed by you or me, we would be getting our affairs in order prior to a long jail sentence.
To suggest that Rangel brought discredit upon the House and that his actions served to undermine the public confidence we have in the institution, for him to receive a punishment of having to stand and listen to his colleagues (most of whom are possibly guilty of similar offenses) denigrate him? Its a public charade. We pay for the campaigns of the elected and we pay for their salaries and perks while they are in office. We pay their pensions. Asking them to behave with decorum and integrity, and to deliver justice to one of their own, is not too much to ask.
Even if Rangel were to resign, he would keep his full pension and all his ill-gotten gains. This episode is the face of everything awful in U.S. politics, from the White House to local government.
Rangel should be expelled from the House and put in jail.
"Censure". ROTFL! All the politicians get to stand up and call Charlie the crook a "gunky". They act just like a bunch of school kids.
There are one set of laws for the Nobles and another for the Serfs.
Pray for America
If the Republicans had half of Hillary’s balls, they would make this a campaign issue. They would bring this up every time taxes are mentioned.
What a sham. James Trafficant committed lesser crimes and they booted him out ! Rangle ought to be booted out straight into jail !
You just stand up and get called names by your "peers" (fellow travelers in the lobbyist/favored kickback schemes).
Is this a great Country, or what? (That is, if you're a politician or live on the public dole).
...and in the distance the sound of thunder....
He didn’t embezzle anything. In the real world, it is called “influence-peddling,” “tax fraud” and “concealing assets” and you are fined and go to prison, especially if your have evaded paying taxes on certain income for 17 years. Proof positive that Americans are NOT equal under the law. Black politicians are held to a different, much lower standard.
Not only is he a crook, but he was a powerful one at that. More should be expected of him. I guess Dems grade on a curve.
So, he's going to be scolded like a child??
Lock the tax cheating bustard up, one year for each one he "forgot" to pay his taxes.
Oops. Sorry; not a student of the legal definitions, but it seems converting certain monies (not your personal assets) to use for personal gain (getting elected/securing more "donations") would be similar to helping yourself to the bank's money drawer contents, if you were a teller.
Particularly by their own black voters. Rangel will be reelected by his constituents in 2012 by a larger margin than in 2010.
He simply isn’t smart enough to have embezzled anything. But he is profoundly dishonest and has an enormous sense of entitlement. What you describe is influence peddling.
Is he immune from criminal charges? Does he have to make restitution of the money he stole with interest? What happens with his four illicit apartments?
Why use this on Rangel, then? Since when did Congress have standards of ethics and behavior???
meanwhile:
$11,000 fine, arrest possible for some who refuse airport scans and pat downs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2630452/posts
Yeah Charlie loved being in power so much he tried to take much of it with him.
If life was fair he would get the following
1) Eviction from the rent controlled apartments he uses, Why this wasnt done immediately defies logic. Those are for the poor
2) Removal from office today
3) Add up all Charlies indiscretions and the investigations and make him pay the taxpayers back with interest.
4) Stop all government benefits including Health care, retirement accounts, paychecks with the exception of anything earned while in the Armed Forces. He violated the public trust. In other words broke the contract with the American people, so we do not need to honor that contract.
5) Banned from any public service or government job or any private entity that accepts public funds.
6) Agree to the above terms unconditionally to avoid a 40 year (Time Severed) jail sentence.
Unfortunately life is not fair
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