Charles Rangel and House Ethics

Read for yourself what the 20-term Congressman has been charged with by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct after a case was recommended by Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Office of Congressional Ethics. It is hard to deny that some of this stuff he is accused of is the rather fishy side of politics -- as in, why did he do such a sloppy with paperwork or a good-old-boys-will-take-care-of-good-old-boys thing? As head of the House Ways and Means Committee, which, among other things, oversees taxes, why was he so bad at filing his own?

But, even holding one's nose, it is easy to say that under the rules of the game, a whole lot of legislators have done the same, or similar, things. The rules began to change when Speaker Pelosi came into office vowing to clean out the "swamp." It's primary occupants appear to be black members of the House. At last count seven of the 42 members were under some sort of investigation. As radio talk show host Santita Jackson asked earlier today: What is going on?

I am personally leaning towards the position that Rangel (D-New York) should step aside with dignity -- the President's position and that of some of Rangel's whippersnapper opponents in the September 14 Democratic primary in New York. But maybe he and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), who is also among those apparently under investigation, are on to something in declaring that they will fight it out no matter what it means ultimately for Democrats' continued control of the House. Maybe this does come down to the principle of the thing.

I've been writing about Rangel for The Root. This is the last piece I posted. There will be more. Let your voices be heard on this.

O Brother Where Art Thou?

As the vote on President Obama's health care reform nears, I've been struck by the lack of very public support and cajoling from Harlem's Rep. Charlie Rangel, the former chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee who is now enmeshed in all sorts of investigations into his ways and means of doing personal business with government resources.

We should be seeing Rangel, a senior member of Congress, all over the media landscape, to persuade and reassure we the people. He should be there with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she misses no opportunity to use media for the message. I'm sure he's doing some wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, but a more public face is sorely missed at this critical time.

Charles Rangel and David Paterson: Lost Leaders

For decades, the names Rangel and Paterson have been at the forefront of politics, especially that involving blackfolks in New York. Depending upon which side of the deal you were on, that was mostly a good thing. Now those names -- Rangel and Paterson -- are at the forefront of politics for all the wrong reasons.

Start with Representative Rangel, who thinks he is still chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee; he thinks he has just stepped aside amid myriad investigations based on ethics and conflicts of interest and tax fraud and who knows what else. The New York Daily News, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for thrashing Rangel and his allies for their stewardship of the Apollo Theater, published an article on Feb. 27 with the headline “Don’t Want Charles in charge: Rangel should quit chairman post -- Dems”. It’s no surprise that Republicans want him out of that role -- and perhaps even out of office -- but his fellow Democrats are also saying the same thing. In another Daily News article, on Mar. 4, Richard Sisk wrote this: “WASHINGTON - Charlie Rangel was alone and lost Wednesday, an aging and now powerless pol who didn’t know where to go or what to do. He had made a wrong turn coming out of a memorial service for another old bull of the House, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), and was by himself under the vast and majestic expanse of the Capitol dome. The usual scurrying aides, the armload of briefing papers, the multiple cell phones and other trappings of influence were gone.”

A very unscientific but still telling survey by Harlem World magazine found that 67 percent of respondents wanted Rangel to step aside. Just as when it became evident that Rangel’s predecessor, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was no longer effective, especially for New York, youngbloods are already lining up to run for his seat.

At the state government level, there’s the problem of Gov. David Paterson, who, a few days after announcing his plans to seek election to a full term later this year, announced that he would not be running.

I am not accustomed to David Paterson being a pity-party type of guy. But he came across that way a few days ago in a WCBS-TV interview. “Difficulty and disaster greeted me,” he told the reporter. He wasn’t talking about his whole life’s experience, which, of course, involves health issues that led to his blindness. He was talking about assuming the office of Governor of the State of New York.

He’s the “accidental governor,” one who was picked by Eliot Spitzer to be lieutenant governor but who didn’t have a clue about the real wheelings and dealings in Albany until Spitzer resigned because of a sex scandal involving a prostitution ring. As Lt. Gov., Paterson was a happy-go-lucky fellow who had a title and Harlem’s esteem because of his father, Basil, and his honorary fathers: David Dinkins, Percy Sutton and Charles Rangel.

His intellect and wit have stood him well, but his dumb decisions while in office are leading to a sad downfall. He’s admitted to adultery and drug use; indeed, that was one of his first announcements. Now he’s somehow involved in a domestic violence case brought against one of his aides by that man’s girlfriend. And he seems to have violated state law by accepting free tickets to a Yankees World Series game last year. The piling on of charges and rumors continues.

The end of this year may see Paterson and Rangel retired from current political leadership.