Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 22, 2010

Democrat 'Good Time Charlie' NY's Rep. Rangel charged with multiple ethics violations | Photoshop credit: No Sheeples Here

Back in March, New York Democrat Congressman Charlie Rangel said that stepping down from his powerful Ways and Means chair position, while a nearly 2-year ethics investigation laboriously ensued, would mean just a temporary absence for him.

Think again, Charlie boy.

Reported by MSNBC, Capitol Hill, Rangel charged with multiple ethics violations:

A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, a blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and an election-year headache for Democrats.

The committee did not immediately specify the charges against the Democrat, who has served in the House for some 40 years and is fourth in House seniority. The charges by a four-member panel of the House ethics committee sends the case to a House trial, where a separate eight-member panel of Republicans and Democrats will decide whether the violations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

The timing of the announcement ensures that it will stretch into the fall campaign, and Republicans are certain to make it an issue as they try to capture majority control of the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had once promised to “drain the swamp” of ethical misdeeds by lawmakers in arguing that Democrats should be in charge.

Responding to the charges, Rangel said in a statement, “I was notified today, two years after I requested an investigation, that the Ethics Committee will refer the allegations reviewed by an investigations subcommittee to a subcommittee that will review the facts. I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media.”

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said, “The action today would indicate that the independent, bipartisan ethics committee process is moving forward.”

Republicans immediately seized on the case. House GOP leader John Boehner said the charges were “a sad reminder of Speaker Pelosi’s most glaring broken promise: to drain the swamp in Washington.”

Rangel led the tax-writing Ways and Means panel until he stepped aside last March after the ethics committee criticized him in a separate case, finding that he should have known corporate money was paying for his trips to two Caribbean conferences.

What? Even left-wing MSNBC is taking this chucklehead to task by asking him real questions? Be still, my heart.

The intrepid reporter yanking Rangel’s chain in the video by asking a *gasp* non-softball question is NBC news correspondent Luke Russert, son of the late, great journalist Tim Russert.

Rangel’s a pompous, sleazy jerk…

Rep. Charlie Rangel Talks to Reporters on His Suspected Ethics Violations, Gets Testy with Luke Russert | July 22, 2010

From ABC News, Rep. Charles Rangel Charged with Ethics Violations:

A House subcommittee investigating Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) has charged him with violating House Rules, setting the stage for a trial to be conducted by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Rangel, who has been under investigation for two years for multiple alleged violations, said he is unfazed by the subcommittee’s action.

“Now the facts are going to get out and I think that’s good,” Rangel told reporters. “I don’t have any fear at all politically or personally what they come up with. So I don’t feel badly? Why would I feel bad when I’ve asked them for two years? So this is it, it’s what I’ve been waiting for, and we’ll see what happens.”

Asked if he’d testify on his own behalf, Rangel said, “You bet your sweet –. If I can testify, I will.”

From Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post, Charlie Rangel: ethics violator:

Well, it took 18 months, but the House ethics committee has concluded that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), the one-time chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, violated ethics rules and would face a trial of sorts starting next week. That’s also when a public statement of violation will be released. Even though much of it might already be known, I can’t wait to read it. What we already do know is pretty extraordinary.

The committee has had a lot to look into. But my favorite, hands down, is his amended financial disclosure forms that revealed not one but two checking accounts — CHECKING — with up to $500,000 in them. How that slips the mind of the man who at the time was the powerful chief of the tax-writing committee is beyond me.

From Hot Air, Breaking: House committee charges Rangel with multiple ethical violations:

This is five months in the making, starting with his admonishment back in February over staff members having accepted free trips to the Caribbean and culminating a week later in his removal from Ways and Means — albeit supposedly only on a temporary basis. Anyone think he’ll be returning to the committee after this, even if he beats the rap?

The next step is a trial by subcommittee. Given that the most ethical Congress ever had a decidedly lackluster reputation on ethics until now, I wonder how much pressure for and against charging Rangel there is on the Democratic side. On the one hand, this is going to push ethics back on the campaign menu. On the other, if they beat up on Rangel, it makes them look forthright.

From McClatchy, Rangel summoned by special ethics panel for violations:

WASHINGTON — Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, will face a trial-like session of a special House subcommittee next week on at least one ethics violation charge, a House investigatory subcommittee decided Thursday.

Congressional aides said that the exact nature of the violation won’t be revealed publicly until the special eight-member House adjudicatory subcommittee hears Rangel’s case next Thursday.

The convening of an adjudicatory subcommittee of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is rare. The last time it was done was 2002 to handle the case of former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was under investigation in connection with bribery, racketeering and tax evasion convictions.

Traficant was expelled from Congress, served seven years in prison and unsuccessfully tried to get on the ballot to run for the House this year.

Rangel, D-N.Y., has been under a lengthy probe by the ethics committee for a series of allegations that include failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, fundraising efforts for a college center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on property he owns in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel’s spokesman, Emile Milne, did not return phone calls seeking comment, but Rangel told reporters he was looking forward to battling the allegations, according to CNN.

“It gives me an opportunity to respond to my friends and constituents who have supported me for 40 years,” CNN reported Rangel saying. “All I’ve been able to give them is ‘trust me.’ “

Related:
CT Patriot’s Blog: Charlie Rangel CHARGED With Ethics Violations, Trial To Be Held
Cajun Conservatism: Rep. Charlie Rangel Berates Luke Russert and MSNBC for Questions About Alleged Ethics Violations
Gateway Pundit: Rats Flee Ship… Dem Rep. Sutton Calls for Rangel to Resign and Dem Leader Rangel Charged with Multiple Ethics Violations
Scotty Starnes’s Blog: About Time… House Panel Says Charlie Rangel Violated Ethics Guideline
PumaByDesign: Rep. Charlie Rangel on Possible Ethics Violations Comments “That was a Dumb Question”

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