Remember this?:
Ladies and gentlemen, the ethical chickens of The Most Ethical Congress Ever have come home to roost - and so bad is it that there's no good time for them to show up:
Embattled Representative Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, committed an undisclosed ethics violation, a House investigatory subcommittee determined Thursday… The formation of subcommittee, which will consist of four Democrats and four Republicans, is rare. The last time one was convened was in 2002 to handle the case of former Representative James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was under investigation in connection with bribery, racketeering and tax evasion convictions… Rangel, D-NY15, has been under a lengthy probe by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for a series of ethics allegations that includes failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, fundraising efforts for a college center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on property he owns in the Dominican Republic.
Embattled Representative Charles Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, committed an undisclosed ethics violation, a House investigatory subcommittee determined Thursday…
The formation of subcommittee, which will consist of four Democrats and four Republicans, is rare. The last time one was convened was in 2002 to handle the case of former Representative James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was under investigation in connection with bribery, racketeering and tax evasion convictions…
Rangel, D-NY15, has been under a lengthy probe by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for a series of ethics allegations that includes failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets, improper use of several rent-controlled apartments in his Harlem district, fundraising efforts for a college center that bears his name, and failing to pay taxes on property he owns in the Dominican Republic.
Consider the Dems' options. If they go ahead with Rangel's ethics trial, he becomes the poster congresscritter for The Most Corrupt Congress Ever. If they delay it until after the election, Republicans can yell "COVERUP!," along with The Most Corrupt, Unaccountable Congress Ever. Not a whole lotta palatability going on there. If it were a smorgasbord, it would be all salads with not a drop of thousand island dressing in sight.
Ace is right that Rangel won't lose his seat over this - at least not via ouster (expelling a black man from Congress right before an election in which the Dems are going to get massacred when they need every African-American vote they can get? Not a chance) or to a (hyuk) Republican.
But the Donk primary presents an interesting circle-closer:
Rangel does face a primary challenge this September from Adam Clayton Powell IV. Powell's father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was the man Rangel unseated to win the seat about 100 years ago. The elder Powell was a longtime member of Congress whom the Democrats refused to seat after the '66 elections because of corruption charges. Powell then won the special election to fill the vacancy and sat in the House until Rangel beat him the 1970 primary.
Chickens coming home to roost? How about "what goes around, comes around"?
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This page contains a single entry by JASmius published on July 22, 2010 3:38 PM.
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