Ethics’ for sale

NY Post ^ | September 6, 2009 | Editorial

[Scanian]

Is Charlie Rangel worried that the House Ethics Committee — notorious for handing out little more than a slap on the wrist for even the most egregious congressional misconduct — might make an exception in his case?

Maybe that’s why the embattled Harlem Democrat has been playing Santa Claus with his House colleagues, doling out more campaign cash from his own re-election kitty than almost any other member of Congress.

Among the 119 lucky recipients: three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee.

The same people who are meant to be probing the growing list of his financial “oversights” and deciding what, if any, punishment to mete out.

(If they ever get around to finishing their investigation, that is — the committee allegedly has been looking into Rangel’s tangled fiscal affairs for the past 12 months.)

One member of the panel, Peter Welch of Vermont, wisely decided to return his $20,000 gift from Rangel, citing the need for “an abundance of caution.”

But the other two — Ben Chandler of Kentucky and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina — are holding on to Rangel’s largesse, claiming it in no way interferes with their ability to sit in judgment on their benefactor.

So much for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s promise that this would be “the most ethical Congress ever.”

Rangel, of course, faces probes on a whole host of issues, many of them first uncovered by The Post: illegally maintaining four rent-stabilized apartments; use of House stationery to solicit funds for a policy center; failure to pay property taxes; failure to report rental income, and acceptance of free Caribbean trips paid for by corporate lobbyists.

Then there’s his most recent discloure filings — which listed hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unreported assets.

[DB]

The man leaves a trail of slime wherever he goes.

[DGHoodini]

...and all the other blatantly crooked Democrat politicians, are circling their corrupt wagons around Rangel to protect their fellow criminal. The Democrats are all corrupt. And they should all be gotten rid of.

[NTHockey]

I heard Senator Tom Coburn on Sean Hannity’s show. He was asked about Congeress’s low approval rating (24%). His response:”We earned it.” Pricelss!

[DeaconRed]

For the 2010 elections we need to play the tape of Nancy saying she would drain the swamp and have the most ethical congress ever. . . . . . . .

[CapnJack]

Where are the Repubs. with daily claims of the “Democrat culture of corruption!” ?

Why are they not bringing to light these abuses in Congress to the American people in the major news organizations?

Can't they at least try to do this so it looks like they are doing something to bring this matter to light?

[Scanian]

Which is exactly why there are a lot of FReepers, myself included, who have stopped looking to the Republican party for leadership.

They became Democrat lite a long time ago and show few signs of changing.

[pointsal]

Nancy, by promising to drain the swamp, does that mean that Congress is already known to harbor critters and creatures that are no good for the country at large?

[SES1066]

I hereby gloomily predict that this ‘Ethics Investigation’ can have but one possible outcome. It is the most logical based upon past history; Rangel will be found innocent because his behavior is perfectly typical for a Harlem Democrat Congresscritter. The actual legal ruling would be to remand his fitness back to Charlie’s Harlem constituency which would elect him even if he were dead so long as he is unburied. This is, after all, the ‘Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Memorial Harlem Congressional Seat’ and anyone who touches it develops a certain ‘moonlight shine’.