{"id":5997,"date":"2010-08-05T10:42:07","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T17:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=5997"},"modified":"2010-08-05T10:42:07","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T17:42:07","slug":"rangel-scandal-reveals-extent-of-capitol-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/rangel-scandal-reveals-extent-of-capitol-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangel Scandal Reveals Extent of Capitol Corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Howard Rich) <\/em>– Four years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d of corruption in Washington, D.C., but after failing miserably to do so it now appears she\u2019s choosing to ignore it \u2014 while letting her colleagues sweep it under the rug.<\/p>\n

In the latest example of this trend, a House ethics panel last week recommended that Rep. Charlie Rangel be \u201creprimanded\u201d for a laundry list of corruption charges. Rangel, a Democrat who has been in the House for forty years, is facing a battery of serious allegations which, if proven, should cost the career lawmaker his job \u2014 if not land him in jail.<\/p>\n

Rangel is accused of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets on his financial disclosure statements \u2014 a pattern of alleged evasion that spans nearly a decade. Additionally, he\u2019s accused of failing to pay taxes on income generated from his vacation property in the Dominican Republic, using taxpayer-funded resources for campaign purposes and abusing his free Congressional mail privilege to solicit donations.<\/p>\n

On top of all that, Rangel reportedly accepted political favors from donors who received favorable treatment from him during his tenure as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee \u2014 which oversees tax policy, trade issues, Medicare and Social Security, among other responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Every bit as troubling as Rangel\u2019s alleged conduct, though, is the attempt by his colleagues to completely let him off the hook \u2014 and to do so quickly in an effort to avoid any lingering bad press leading up to the November elections. Despite of the gravity of his alleged offenses (including several Rangel has admitted to committing) House ethics members have recommended letting him off with only a \u201creprimand.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that, exactly?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s nothing more than a vote of the House of Representatives expressing \u201cdispleasure\u201d with the conduct of one of its members. In fact it\u2019s an even milder slap on the wrist than a censure resolution, which would at least require Rangel to stand before his colleagues and receive their admonition in person prior to continuing on in his bad behavior.<\/p>\n

Far from \u201cdraining the swamp\u201d of corruption, this sort of politically-motivated whitewashing only emboldens it.<\/p>\n

Asked about the Rangel investigation last week, Pelosi claimed that she was \u201cout of the loop.\u201d She added that she would have to \u201cwait and see what the committee decides,\u201d and refused to rule out the possibility that Rangel might even return as Ways and Means Chairman one day.<\/p>\n

So much for \u201crestoring integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C.\u201d and running \u201cthe most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history,\u201d which Pelosi promised to do four years ago.<\/p>\n

Now, it appears that evading responsibility and professing ignorance when confronted with embarrassing scandals is Pelosi\u2019s new modus operandi. In fact, she employed a similar approach earlier this year when it was revealed that former Rep. Eric Massa \u2014 another New York Democrat \u2014 resigned his office due to allegations of sexual harassment made by male staff members.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Massa and Rangel scandals, Pelosi must also address allegations that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) \u2014 a career politician who has held office for more than three decades \u2014 helped steer bailout funds to a bank in which her husband owns stock. Like Rangel, Waters is facing an ethics trial in the House.<\/p>\n

Will Waters\u2019 scandal be swept under the rug as well so that Democrats can avoid additional bad press prior to the election?<\/p>\n

That would certainly appear to be the emerging pattern.<\/p>\n

Clearly neither party has proven capable of reforming \u2014 or restraining \u2014 the destructive forces that dominate decision-making Washington, D.C., but the promises of Pelosi ring especially hollow. And absent draconian new ethics laws (that are actually enforced) and real reforms \u2013 like term limits \u2013 the swamp that has infested our nation\u2019s capital will never be drained.<\/p>\n

(The author is chairman of Americans for Limited Government)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Howard Rich) – Four years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to \u201cdrain the swamp\u201d of corruption in Washington, D.C., but after failing miserably to do so it now appears she\u2019s choosing to ignore it \u2014 while letting her colleagues sweep it under the rug. In the latest example of this trend, a House ethics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5998,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5997\/revisions\/5998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}