Rangel guilty: House ethics panel rules misconduct
New York Rep. Charles Rangel, a longtime power in the U.S. House, violated its rules with financial misconduct, brought it discredit and will be punished, fellow lawmakers sitting as jurors ruled on Tuesday.
Protesting the enduring stain on his four-decade congressional career, the 80-year-old Democrat said he was treated unfairly for “good faith mistakes.” His statement reflected the bitterness of an eight-month career slide, starting with an unrelated ethics ruling that forced him from his coveted chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.
The conduct often cited by critics was his failure to report income to the IRS from a unit he owned in a Dominican Republic resort, showing the chairman in charge of tax legislation shortchanged the IRS.
Rangel, a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, remains a political kingpin in New York’s famed Harlem neighborhood and is unlikely to resign. He won re-election earlier this month.
A Republican caught in what amounts to income tax evasion, especially one who is in charge of writing the rules the rest of us have to follow, would probably have been pressured to resign by fellow Republicans. He would be unlikely to be re-elected. The media’s calls for his resignation would be frequent and stentorian. He’d probably win a “worst person in the world award” from Keith Olbermann.
It seems that in Rangel’s district, the content of a man’s character is the last thing that matters to the voters.
