Rangelling with Corruption

Fox News reports:

Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, will introduce a special resolution Wednesday that could potentially relieve Rep. Charlie Rangel of his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Fox News has learned.

Late last week, the House ethics committee “admonished” the New York Democrat for taking two trips to the Caribbean that were paid for by corporate sponsors. The ethics panel approved the trips but still disciplined Rangel, saying his staff tried to brief him on who was footing the bill.

The ethics committee is still reviewing a host of other allegations against Rangel, ranging from his failure to pay taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic to his use of congressional stationery to raise donations for his school of public service at City College of New York.

As has been the case when similar measures have come to the House floor, most Republicans are expected to vote for the resolution, with most voting Democrats against it. But things are different this time around for the Harlem Democrat. A handful of Democrats have publicly called for Rangel to give up his gavel on the Ways and Means panel.

Rangel has been the subject of investigations before, as Just Politics..? friend Cracked World (check out his story for a great graphic) reported back in October 2009:

Today House Republicans tried to pass a resolution to remove Congressman Rangel from his chairmanship following a long dingy laundry list of wrongdoing. Of course House Democrats quickly put down the effort to remove the embattled congressman in a brazen show of partisanship and zero regard for the taxpayers who vote them into office.

Of course, when San Francisco Democrat and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi became speaker she said she would “drain the swamp” and that was back in 2006 when George W. Bush was president:

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to “drain the swamp” after more than a decade of Republican rule.

Seeing the writing on the wall, Rangel has “temporarily” left his post as the head of the Ways and Means Committee however, he is still in office and still hasn’t been asked to testify.

If you believe her, she might just try and sell you the Golden Gate Bridge!

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