(USA Today) The House Ethics committee voted overwhelmingly Thursday to censure New York Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel, who represents the 15th Congressional district in New York, which covers Harlem. He was convicted for abusing his office and engaging in financial misconduct. The censure is the most serious punishment, outside of expulsion, that the House can impose. The Committee approved the censure, 9-1 behind closed doors and also required Rangel to pay back taxes. The case now moves to the full House, which would have to approve formal censure. A vote is not likely to be expected until lawmakers return after the Thanksgiving holiday. Censured lawmakers are required to stand on the House floor as the resolution condemning their actions is read aloud. A total of 22 members have been censured in House history, including then-Massachusetts congressman Gerry Studds, who was found guilty of sexual misconduct, with a House page in 1983.
Rangel, 80, appeared before the committee Thursday after walking out of a public trial earlier this week. He said he had been "overzealous" in his effort to raise money for a non-profit college center to be named in his honor but declared that he was not "corrupt." He's fooled himself! "I have dedicated my life to this Congress, and my country and my community," Rangel told the 10-member ethics panel. His voice cracking, Rangel implored the committee to make clear in its report to the House that "Charles Rangel never sought any personal gain." Rep. Jo Bonner, the committee's top Republican, said": "Mr. Rangel should look into the mirror when he wants to know who to blame." Some Democrats questioned whether Rangel's actions merited punishment more serious than a reprimand, the most modest sanction the House could impose. "Censure is extreme," said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC). "It should be reserved for intentional conduct."
Rangel, who once wielded enormous power as the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was convicted Tuesday of 11 counts of breaking House rules by using his office to solicit millions of dollars in donations for the center from companies with business before his committee and housing a campaign office in a rent-stabilized New York apartment that had been set aside for residential use. They also found that he failed to disclose assets and income in reports to Congress and failed to report and pay taxes to the IRS on rental income from his Caribbean vacation villa for 17 years. "Public office is a public trust," said Blake Chisam, the House ethics panel's prosecutor. Rangel "has violated that trust."
Several Democrats hailed his storied career--from a high school dropout who was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for valor in the Korean War to one of New York's most powerful politicians. He has served for 40 years in Congress and easily won re-election to a 21st term. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) , a towering civil rights figure, called Rangel "a good and decent man" who joined the 1965 voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. No other House lawmaker has been found guilty of as many counts of rule-breaking by an ethics panel, according to Chism.
In one of the previous posts entitled, "We Get the Government We Deserve", I was mentioning one of the reasons for that is because we keep on re-electing the same old incumbents over and over. If the citizens of Harlem had enough sense to vote Rangel out concerning all the ethics violations that he used his office for, the House wouldn't have to be voting on censure for Rangel because he would be gone by January. We wonder why the corruption level is as high as it is in Washington, D.C. We keep on voting for the same-old corrupt incumbents. How can we expect there to be reform in Washington when the same old incumbents who are guilty of using their office to benefit themselves? It's outrageous! Congressman Barney Frank in Massachusetts just won re-election this year in the midst of the mortgage meltdown from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago. Barney is on the House Banking Committe who oversaw Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I don't dislike Rangel. However, he's been in office for way too long. It's not just Democrats, but it's Republicans as well such as Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Rangel did serve honorably in the Korean War. But that doesn't mean he should be re-elected especially when you read of him abusing his office and engaging in financial misconduct. When are we ever going to learn to vote out career politicians? When it's too late and America is no longer a sovereign country? That's where our country is headed.
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