On Election Day, voters sent a clear message to Washington politicians: No more corruption. No more secrecy. And no more backroom deals that enable shady politicians to remain in power. But did that message reach Congress?
If we are to look at what happened to Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) last week as a guide, the answer is “yes” and “no.”
At the beginning of last week, it looked like Rangel might finally get his comeuppance. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct (commonly known as the House Ethics Committee) convicted Rangel on a series of corruption charges that “brought discredit to the House.” As reported in The Hill and many other press outlets, Rangel was convicted by a House Ethics panel on 11 counts of violating ethics rules.
The convictions are serious and demonstrate a serial tendency on the part of Rangel to abuse his congressional office for personal gain.
You can read the official report from the House Ethics Committee here. The following is a summary of what the committee said Rangel did wrong:
- Rangel, who you may recall was formerly in charge of writing our nation’s tax policies, “forgot” to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income he earned from his off-shore rental property.
- Rangel misused his congressional office, staff and resources to raise money for his private Rangel Center for Public Service to be housed the City College of New York. (He also put the squeeze on donors with business before his House Ways and Means Committee and used the congressional “free mail” privilege to solicit funds.)
- Rangel misused his residentially-zoned Harlem apartment as a campaign headquarters.
- Rangel failed to report $600,000 in income on his official congressional financial disclosure reports, which contained “numerous errors and omissions.”
It is worth noting that the Committee did not consider other serious corruption charges against Rangel. For example, it has been alleged that Rangel preserved a tax loophole for an oil company in exchange for a Rangel Center donation. The Committee also did not consider the charge that Rangel used improper influence to maintain ownership of his highly coveted rent-controlled apartment – the same apartment he improperly used for campaign activities. The list goes on and on.
And so, what do you do with a congressman who so flagrantly violated ethics rules – 11 times over? Expel him from Congress? Well that’s what Judicial Watch pushed for in a statement issued to the press last Wednesday.
Following a sanctions hearing, the full Ethics Committee, by vote of 9-1 recommended “censure” for Rangel, not expulsion. According to The Washington Post: “Censure, which is just below expulsion, is the second most serious punishment the House can impose on a member. The recommendation will next go to the full chamber, which will probably vote the week after Thanksgiving and is expected to endorse the committee’s decision.”
Some will try to play up the seriousness of the censure resolution, but it carries with it no tangible consequence for Rangel. I’ll put it this way. Censure was the punishment Bill Clinton was hoping to get from the House for the Monica Lewinsky [obstruction of justice and perjury] scandal. Instead the House voted to impeach. And if the Senate had the courage to follow suit, he would have been tossed from office.
As this is Washington, politicians of both parties will pretend that censure is a serious punishment. But it is a “punishment” that simply requires Rangel to come to the well of the House and hear a disapproving statement read by lame-duck Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). In the real world, you get fired or thrown in jail for abusing your office and not paying your taxes.
Let me give you further context: The last time the House censured anyone was in 1983, when two congressmen (a Republican and Democrat) were censured for having sexual relationships with teenaged House pages. It seems that unless one is convicted of a crime, one can do anything as a congressman and not be thrown out of the House!
The fact that the House has so rarely resorted to censure is more indicative of the lack of seriousness about ethics in Congress than of the so-called severity of the censure punishment.
The full House should reject the Ethics Committee’s recommendation and expel Rangel from the House of Representatives.
This is a test for the incoming Republican leadership on whether it understands voters’ concerns about corruption in Congress.
Please call your congressman to let them know how you feel about the punishment that Rangel ought to face. You can reach the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.