Ethics chief counsel recommends censure for Rangel
November 18th, 2010 . by TexasFredWASHINGTON (AP) - The House ethics committee’s chief counsel recommended Thursday that veteran Rep. Charles Rangel be censured for financial and fundraising misconduct as lawmakers neared closure on an embarrassing 2 1/2-year-long scandal.
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.”
If Chisam’s recommendation is carried out, it would be the most serious punishment short of expulsion that could be meted out by the House. 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.
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Ethics chief counsel recommends censure for Rangel
Censure? That’s it? That’s ALL Rangel is going to get?
censure – noun
1. strong or vehement expression of disapproval: The newspapers were unanimous in their censure of the tax proposal.2. an official reprimand, as by a legislative body of one of its members.
That’s not even a slap on the wrist. And folks, this is what you get when the FOX guards the hen house. The FOX, in this case, being Rangel’s fellow Congress Critters.
The picture says it all.
That paper Rangel has in his hands? It’s mislabeled. It should read The U.S. Constitution. And we all know what Rangel is going to do with it once he gets to the ‘out house’. I just don’t believe reading it is on his agenda.
Censure? These ass-hats in Congress have wasted many hours of investigation and untold millions of TAX PAYER DOLLARS and all they can come up with is a censure?
Little Charlie: “LaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa…”
Little Charlies Mother: “Now Charlie, be a dear and use your *indoor* voice…”
That is a censure.
A censure boils down to a correction, a verbal reprimand, and it equates to little more than saying nothing at all. It means Rangel is free to proceed with his shenanigans as a Member of Congress. It means that many of his fellow Congressmen are as crooked as is Rangel himself.
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.
