Four years ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp” of corruption in Washington, D.C., but after failing miserably to do so it now appears she’s choosing to ignore it — while letting her colleagues sweep it under the rug.
In the latest example of this trend, a House ethics panel last week recommended that Rep. Charlie Rangel be “reprimanded” 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 — if not land him in jail.
Rangel is accused of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets on his financial disclosure statements — a pattern of alleged evasion that spans nearly a decade. Additionally, he’s 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.
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 — which oversees tax policy, trade issues, Medicare and Social Security, among other responsibilities.
Every bit as troubling as Rangel’s alleged conduct, though, is the attempt by his colleagues to completely let him off the hook — 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 “reprimand.”
What’s that, exactly?
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