Tag Archives: Charles Rangel

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Darrell Issa and the Republican plan to clean up corruption

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I am happy that Boehner and McConnell are going to push the ban on earmarks, but who is going to fix the corruption, fraud, and lack of transparency elsewhere in government?

Consider this article from Investors Business Daily.

Excerpt:

You may never have heard of Rep. Darrell Issa, but you will soon. Republicans have tasked him with cleaning up four years of Democratic misrule and misconduct. It’s a big job, but somebody simply must do it.

For proof, look no further than Tuesday’s dirty debacle with Rep. Charles Rangel, who walked out of a congressional hearing before being found guilty by the House ethics committee on 11 of 13 charges of misconduct.

[…]As the head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, California Republican Issa has promised aggressive investigations of misconduct, wherever it occurs. We think it’s long overdue.

[…]The list of troubling government activities that should be investigated is a long one. Issa’s already looking into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And he’s been openly critical of the Obama stimulus’ lack of controls and poor accounting practices.

He — or other GOP committees — may also look into AIG and the other bank bailouts, and answer who got money and why.

Then there’s the Countrywide VIP program, in which some Congress members got favorable mortgages. And don’t forget the $700 billion TARP program, the government’s takeovers of GM and Chrysler, the links between the left-wing community organizing group ACORN and the Democrats, and even U.S. Minerals Management Service misconduct prior to the BP oil blowout.

I would really like to see an investigation of where the bailout money and stimulus money went.

News

Democrat Maxine Waters charged with ethics violations

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Story from Yahoo News.

Excerpt:

A House investigative panel has decided to charge Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California with ethics violations, raising the possibility of a second high-profile trial with political implications for Democrats this fall.

People familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to be quoted about unannounced charges, say the allegations could be announced next week. The House ethics committee declined Friday to make any public statement on the matter.

Waters has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the bank.

New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel also faces an ethics trial this fall on separate charges that included failure to disclose assets and income, nonpayment of taxes and doing legislative favors for donors to a college center named after him.

Both Waters and Rangel are prominent members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Dual ethics trials would be a major political liability for Democrats, forcing them to defend their party’s ethical conduct while trying to hold on to their House majority.

While Rangel is a former chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Waters is a prominent member of the Financial Services Committee.

Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at Boston-based OneUnited Bank without mentioning her husband’s financial ties to the institution.

So that’s two Democrats on trial for ethics violations. I wonder if we can get three before the mid-term elections?

News

Senior Democrat Charles Rangel charged with ethics violations

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From the Associated Press. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, a blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and an election-year headache for Democrats.

[…]Rangel led the tax-writing Ways and Means panel until he stepped aside last March after the ethics committee criticized him in a separate case — finding that he should have known corporate money was paying for his trips to two Caribbean conferences.

What might they charge him for?

  • His use of official stationery to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York.
  • Whether he had the Ways and Means Committee consider legislation that would benefit donors to the Rangel Center at the same time the congressman solicited donations or pledges.
  • Preserved a tax shelter for an oil drilling company, Nabors Industries, which has a chief executive who donated money to the center while Rangel’s committee considered the loophole legislation.
  • Used four rent-controlled apartment units in New York City, when the city’s rent stabilization program is supposed to apply to one’s primary residence. This raises the question of how all the units could be primary residences. One was a campaign office, raising the separate question of whether the rent break was an improper gift.
  • Whether Rangel, as required, publicly reported information on the financing and rental of his ownership interest in a unit within the Punta Cana Yacht Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Rangel also had to pay back taxes on the rental income.
  • Intentionally failed to report — when required — hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in assets. The amended disclosure reports added a credit union IRA, mutual fund accounts and stock.

The most ethical Congress in history!!! Well, maybe not.