Charlie Rangel, 40 year Congressman from Harlem in NY. He just got reelected. Does that make him a Career Politician? He's 80 years old.
For over 2 years he's been charged with multiple House ethics violations. Finally, right after the election, of course, the House Ethics Committee finds him guilty of egregious ethical behavior. The activities that got him in trouble are very troublesome, including tax evasion and using campaign funds to pay personal legal bills. WOW! Another cheater in the House.
So what does the House Ethics Committee do? They "censure" him. Instead of expulsion, they slap him on the hand.
Expulsion appears in the Constitution. Censure does not. Censure is similar to a reprimand. It's a nothing penalty! It's a pass. It's letting the fox into the hen house knowing the fox is up to no good. Censure simply means Old Charlie will stand in the well of the House while the Speaker of the House rebukes him. That means Nancy Pelosi gets to take Charlie to task for his lack of ethics and honesty. The same Nancy who said "we are going to drain the swamp." Now Nancy, in case you haven't noticed, there is so much toxic waste in the swamp it's unlikely it will ever be drained during your tenure. That's because you are part of the pollution.
Now that the House has made their determination I wonder if the IRS and other agencies will investigate Charlie? You can bet they would if you or I or some other "commoner" were evading taxes. Anyone else would be looking at penalties, fines and interest.
This slap on Charlie's hand is a microcosm of the uncontrolled corruption in Congress. They never pay the price for their deeds. They just snicker and look the other way.
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