Posted on 11/18/2010 10:47:55 AM PST by Justaham
The House ethics committee's chief counsel recommended Thursday that veteran Rep. Charles Rangel be censured for financial and fundraising misconduct as lawmakers neared closure on an embarrassing 2 1/2-year-long scandal.
Chief counsel Blake Chisman called for the punishment despite the veteran New York congressman's plea, in a prepared statement in advance of the hearing, for "a drop of fairness and mercy."
If Chisam's recommendation is carried out, it would be the most serious punishment short of expulsion that could be meted out by the House. Chisam and Rangel argued their positions at a public hearing on sanctions, where the 80-year-old congressman acknowledged making mistakes in handling his finances and said he wasn't there to "retry this case."
He did say he wished the committee would weigh, in considering its vote on punishment, how the House had handled previous cases involving lawmakers who were enriched by activities they undertook that were judged to be in violation of the chamber's rules.
Rangel spoke calmly without notes as he faced the committee. He repeatedly denied he was corrupt or crooked, sparking a clash with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Censure - it serves merely as a condemnation and has no direct effect on the validity of his job as a DEM REP in the house, nor are there any other particular legal consequences.
The only real slap down was having to give up the house Ways and Means committee chairmanship.
He was in position to garner LOTS of money in secret shake downs.
As a result of this and the recent elections ole Charlie’s got nothing.
He ain’t gonna get to chair squat again.
True but don't you mean Mark Foley? Tom Foley was a Democratic Speaker of the House until Newt took over in '95.
anything other than expulsion is a slap on the wrist.
Let’s get real.
“Censure”, “rebuke”, and all those other fancy words are just words for “we aren’t really doing anything to this guy.”
“Oh No — Please don’t throw me into the briar patch”
Government UNIONS are a political disease.. the tail wagging the dog..
Federal government officials should NOT be getting Rich as parasites..
Federal Officials becoming lobbyists should be a felony..
Federal Officials becoming foreign lobbyists should be treason..
From WIKIPEDIA:
Censure is a procedure for publicly reprimanding a public official for inappropriate behavior. When the president is censured, it serves merely as a condemnation and has no direct effect on the validity of presidency, nor are there any other particular legal consequences. Unlike impeachment, censure has no basis in the Constitution or in the rules of the Senate and House of Representatives. It derives from the formal condemnation of either congressional body of their own members.
[edit] Explanation and use
The motion to censure is an exception to the general rule that “a motion must not use language that reflects on a member’s conduct or character, or is discourteous, unnecessarily harsh, or not allowed in debate.”[4] Demeter’s Manual notes, “It is a reprimand, aimed at reformation of the person and prevention of further offending acts.”[2] While there are many possible grounds for censuring members of an organization, such as embezzlement, divulging the secret password, absenteeism, drunkenness, and so on, DEM notes that the grounds for censuring a presiding officer are more limited:[5]
“ Serious grounds for censure against presiding officers (presidents, chairmen, etc.) are, in general: arrogation or assumption by the presiding officer of dictatorial powers – powers not conferred upon him by law – by which he harasses, embarrasses and humiliates members; or, specifically: (1) he refuses to recognize members entitled to the floor; (2) he refuses to accept and to put canonical motions to vote; (3) he refuses to entertain appropriate appeals from his decision; (4) he ignores proper points of order; (5) he disobeys the bylaws and the rules of order; (6) he disobeys the assembly’s will and substitutes his own; (7) he denies to members the proper exercise of their constitutional or parliamentary rights. ”
More serious disciplinary procedures may involve fine, suspension, or expulsion. In some cases, the assembly may declare the chair vacant and elect a new chair; or a motion can be made to rescind the election of an officer.[6]
For examples specific to the United States, see Censure in the United States.
[edit] Procedure
If the motion is made to censure the presiding officer, then he must relinquish the chair to the vice-president until the motion is disposed of;[7] but during this time, the vice-president is still referred to as “Mr. Vice President” in debate, since a censure is merely a warning and not a proceeding that removes the president from the chair.[8] An officer being censured is not referred to by name in the motion, but simply as “the president,” “the treasurer,” etc.
After a motion to censure is passed, the chair (or the vice-president, if the presiding officer is being censured) addresses the censured member by name. He may say something to the effect of, “Brother F, you have been censured by vote of the assembly. A censure indicates the assembly’s resentment of your conduct at meetings. A censure is a warning. It is the warning voice of suspension or expulsion. Please take due notice thereof and govern yourself accordingly.” Or, if the chair is being censured, the vice-president may say, “Mr. Mean, you have been censured by the assembly for the reasons contained in the resolution. I now return to you the presidingship.”[
Pelosi is going to clean up the swamp!!! When?
What’s next the “Comfy Chair”?
Uh. If a Republican does ANYTHING,(no matter how trivial) HE HAS TO GO!
But - if a Democrat does ANYTHING, IT’S OKAY & PAR FOR THE COURSE.
That’s just the way it is, and the way it’s always gonna be.
If the American people really want to turn this country around and bring it back to what our fathers knew, then we have to get rid of people like Rangle. There’s no other way at this point. If we can’t do this, it tells me that others are in control of our country, not the American people and our politicians are under someone elses control. The question is .....who and what can be done about it?
Basically they are telling him to shut up and keep the cash he looted.
It's a slap on the wrist for him. His constituents don't care about ethical concerns. If he were a serial rapist they would still vote for him as long as he gets them “mo gubbermint cheese.”
In some districts, censure might be enough to lose him his seat in the next election. Not in Harlem, where the crookeder their representative is, the better. They like to see a politician who knows how to get back at Whitey by living high off the hog.
In other words, no punishment at all.
When the member is censured, it serves merely as a condemnation and has no direct effect on the validity of the member, nor are there any other particular legal consequences.
It essentially means nothing.
Sort of like a weak probabtion
Yes, that is correct. This stinks like a fresh steaming pantload of Pelosi.
EXPEL THAT PASTARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GODDAMIT EXPELL HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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