In the end, Charles Rangel did not the character to admit his mistakes, to admit he’s a cheat, or that he has any honor left. This is not an indictment about his whole life because he’s done some very admirable things, like serve his country in the Korean War.
But, over time Rangel felt more and more that certain rules didn’t apply to him. He forgot that he was a servant for the people, so instead he began serving himself in ways most regular Americans can’t.
The New York Post reports that the House Ethics Committee today backed censure for Rep. Charlie Rangel today by a nine-to-one vote.
The committee also called on the Harlem representative to pay any unpaid taxes for financial and fundraising misconduct.
The House will likely consider a censure motion after Thanksgiving. If it passes, Rangel would suffer the embarrassment of standing before his colleagues and receiving an oral rebuke by the speaker.
Censure is the most serious punishment short of expulsion that can be meted out by the House.
The panel's vote came after a weepy and apologetic Rep. Charlie Rangel cried as he spoke to the committtee today after its chief counsel recommended that he be censured.
"I never attempted to enrich myself," an emotional Rangel told the panel in one final plea.
[Not reporting income from a villa in the Dominican Republic is not enriching yourself, Charlie?]
“I don’t know how much longer I have to live,” Rangel added, his gravelly voice almost inaudible.
Facing the committee members, he asked them to “see your way clear to say, ’This member was not corrupt.’”
[You’re as corrupt as they come!]
Earlier in the day, chief counsel Blake Chisam called for the punishment despite the veteran New York congressman’s plea, in a prepared statement in advance of the hearing, for “a drop of fairness and mercy.”
Chisam and Rangel argued their positions at a public hearing on sanctions, where the 80-year-old congressman acknowledged making mistakes in handling his finances and said he wasn’t there to “retry this case.”
He did say he wished the committee would weigh, in considering its vote on punishment, how the House had handled previous cases involving lawmakers who were enriched by activities they undertook that were judged to be in violation of the chamber’s rules.
Rangel spoke calmly without notes as he faced the committee. He repeatedly denied he was corrupt or crooked, sparking a clash with Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
McCaul questioned whether Rangel’s conduct was, in fact, corrupt.
He noted that Rangel targeted donors for a college center named after him, people who had legislative issues that Rangel could influence in the Ways and Means Committee.
Rangel, McCaul added, didn’t pay taxes on his Dominican Republic villa for 17 years.
“Failure to pay taxes for 17 years. What is that?” McCaul asked. He noted that former Rep. James Traficant, who was expelled after a felony conviction, didn’t pay taxes for just two years.
More details here
Save the tears, Charlie! You’re sad because you finally got caught. You lived above the law for almost 20 years, and you’re still getting off light, still keeping your job and your pension.
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