Tax Lawyer's Blog

“A Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall conduct himself at all times in a manner which shall reflect creditably on the House of Representatives.”

- Code of Conduct – United States House of Representatives -

David Sessions of Politics Daily writes that even though the pressure has been ratcheting up on House Ways & Means Chairman Charlie Rangel House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is still behind him:

As calls increase for New York congressman Charlie Rangel to step down or be removed as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she won’t take action until she has the full results of an ethics investigation into Rangel’s real estate deals and corporate-sponsored Caribbean trips.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi said Rangel’s alleged misdeeds have not “jeopardized our country in any way.”

Meanwhile, opposition to the Harlem veteran spread from Republicans and newspaper editorial pages to his own party. The House Ethics Committee admonished Rangel on Friday for taking two corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in violation of House rules. The New York Times on Saturday called for Rangel’s removal, citing his “arrogance” at a Thursday hearing of the matter. (The paper has also led the way in investigating Rangel’s finances with stories on a sweetheart apartment deal in Harlem and numerous properties he failed to report on his taxes.)

The Washington Post has editorialized against Rangel twice.

Apparently, Pelosi is saying that because Rangel has not jeopardized our country in any way, he should remain the Chairman of Ways & Means?¹ But that has not historically been the standard for keeping positions of power in Congress. Did Trent Lott jeopardize our country when he praised former segregationist candidate Trent Lott at his 100th birthday party? Did Joe Wilson jeopardize our country when he shouted “you lie” at President Obama during his speech to Congress last year? Did Robert Packwood jeopardize the country back in the ’80s when he serially philandered his way around the Capitol?

Pelosi is establishing a new standard, here, and it’s a double one. Do you doubt for a second that were the Republicans in power and Pelosi the House minority leader she would demand the resignation of a Republican Chairman of Ways & Means for the identical transgressions?²

But even if we applied Pelosi’s higher “danger to the country” standard, Rangel should be removed as Chairman. When the leader of the most powerful committee in Congress is found to have committed financial and tax misdeeds it jeopardizes the country because it causes the electorate to lose faith in the ability of its representatives to govern competently and fairly.

Here’s the entire House Code of Conduct.

Footnotes:

¹  In a prior post we wrote that the real reason Nancy Pelosi is supportive of Rangel is because the wacknut Fortney Pete Stark is next in line for the Chairmanship.

²  Before you say that Republicans are also guilty of double-standards because they would be supporting a Republican chairman in Rangel’s position, let me point out that it was the Republicans who demanded and obtained Trent Lott’s resignation as Senate Majority Leader, not the Democrats.

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