AP source: Ethics panel finds Rangel broke rules

[Akoto]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Charles Rangel, the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 34-year veteran of Capitol Hill, knowingly accepted Caribbean trips from a corporation in violation of House rules, the House Ethics Committee ruled Thursday, The Associated Press has learned.

At least four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were also on the 2007 and 2008 trips were exonerated by the panel, according to a congressional source familiar with the findings.

The finding is certain to jeopardize Rangel's chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The tax-writing committee will take a lead as Congress determines the fate of former President George W. Bush's expiring tax cuts.

Rengel's ethics troubles also present an election-year dilemma for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led a Democratic takeover of the House in 2006 on a campaign promise to end a "culture of corruption" in the GOP-led Congress.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHICS_RANGEL?SITE=VACUL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[WriteDown]

1. Caught by the very tax laws which he is in charge of writing.

It's like a Greek tragedy.

Although those charges are still under investigation I believe.

[DissedByBush]

6. After the furor over DeLay's ethics

And Pelosi's demands he lose his position, it will be interesting to see what she does about Rangel.

You know the Republicans already have the "hypocrite" speeches written and rehearsed.

[No Elephants]

9. Remind me, please, what the Republicans did about Delay?

Investigated him and drummed him right out of the House immediately, did they? Then why are the words "indictment" and "rule change" nagging at the back of my mind?

Here's my House-Hold hint: The minute a Republican calls anyone a hypocrite, please hand him or her a mirror, just before you start :rofl:.

And, until then, don't give what a Republican is goingto say about Democrats one second's thought. That is just a waste of time and energy. It's a given they will say any bad thing they can, even if it's an outright lie, or racist or whatever. They have no shame.

[marshall]

15. The important thing is to recall what the Democrats said about DeLay

Democrats have no control over what Republicans blather about. But Democrats are responsible for their own pronouncements, and in this age of wall to wall media and every utterance being recorded, any winking and nodding in Rangel's direction will be noted.

[Yupster]

11. And ironic that Rangel took office 40 years ago

because Rev Adam Clayton Powell Jr. had been booted from this congressional seat for misappropriating funds from the congressional committee he chaired after his 25 years in the congress.

This congressional seat has had two congresmen in 66 years and it looks like they were both crooks.

BTW, the Powell circus was happening when I was a little kid in that area. It was a real circus of the House refusing to seat him, and then they had a special election, and he won it to replace himself after he had been booted out of it. It was really something.

[boppers]

2. How has he kept his seat? eom

[No Elephants]

7. How did Fogel keep his until his well known proclivities hit the fan?

How come Democrats worked like hell for Lieberman in the primary, but not for Lamont in the general?

Both Parties protect incumbents. All else is detail.

[No Elephants]

13. Too late to edit, but that should have been Foley, not Vogel.

(And my sincere apologies to my friend whose last name is Vogel.)

[liberal N proud]

3. But under the new SCOTUS ruling it will be OK to accept the bribes

If he calls it a campaign trip.

[No Elephants]

12. It's always been ok to accept bribes. Ask McCain, another "tripster."

[warm regards]

4. Panel Finds Rangel Broke House Rules With Caribbean Trip

Source: New York Times

A House panel has found that Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York broke Congressional rules by failing to properly disclose financial details of a trip to the Caribbean, a House official said.

Mr. Rangel, who heads the House Ways and Means committee and who has served his Harlem district for nearly four decades, has been under investigation by two house subcommittees.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/26/nyregion/26rangel.html

---

Charlie doesn't need this headache...

[SlingBlade]

5. Another Corporate Whore Democrat. Next The W.H

[No Elephants]

8. Corporate whores abound in both Parties.

[No Elephants]

10. Too bad. I love seeing Charlie on TV, parrying with the likes of Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson.

[conservdem]

14. Should he lose his chairmanship for this?

What has been the result for this type of violation in the past?