In case you’ve been too busy watching Obamacare implode like the latter stages of a supernova, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel has a little integrity problem. He has a problem reporting his income and assets – and thus his tax liability. He’s had to file amended disclosures on a number of occasions, with excuses that would have gotten you or me a trip to the slammer with a detour through bankruptcy court. He has a problem remembering which house he’s living in. He has a problem taking free vacations from cronies. He has no problem taking taxpayer-funded trips to the Caribbean. All of which has earned him what must be a record for Ethics Committee investigations into a sitting chairman. Despite which, the Democrat leadership re-appointed him to the chairmanship.
This is all from the guy who’s responsible for writing – although if he’s anything like the rest of his fellow committee chairmen, not reading – changes to the tax law. It’s not original to point out that there’s apparently one set of rules for you and me, and another set of rules for the people who write them.
It’s time for Charles Rangel to go, and at least until January 2011, it’s up to his fellow Democrats to do it. There is a process for removing errant committee chairmen. Each party caucus has a committee whose job it is to recommend to the entire caucus committee assignments and chairmanships. The Democrats’ is called the “Steering and Policy Committee,” although in their case, it appears that the policy is to let the steering take care of itself, with predictable results for the guardrails.
Our own Rep. DeGette, as a Chief Deputy Whip, is a member of this committee. How did she vote on Rangel’s re-appointment, and when will she move to undo that mistake?
