Yesterday, the Washington Post broke a blockbuster. A memo was leaked detailing all the current House Ethics Committee investigations. And guess what, most of them are Democrats. In fact, the only Republican mentioned in it was Sam Graves, who has been cleared by the Committee.
So what did we learn? The Post says, regarding the inquiry of lawmakers tied to PMA, a now defunct lobbying shop, that “the inquiry was broader than initially believed”. And we learned that there is yet another investigation of Charlie Rangel:
Ethics committee staff members have interviewed House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) about one element of the complex investigation of his personal finances, as well as the lawmaker’s top aide and his son. Rangel said he spoke with ethics committee staff members regarding a conference that he and four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended last November in St. Martin. The trip initially was said to be sponsored by a nonprofit foundation run by a newspaper. But the three-day event, at a luxury resort, was underwritten by major corporations such as Citigroup, Pfizer and AT&T. Rules passed in 2007, shortly after Democrats reclaimed the majority following a wave of corruption cases against Republicans, bar private companies from paying for congressional travel.
This is in addition to all the other problems that Rangel has, including his not disclosing bank accounts, breaking New York City laws about rent control, and his holding hostage Puerto Rican grandmas for his rum buddies.
David Corn at Politics Daily has a smart take that Rangel will ultimately become a symbol of a corrupt Democratic Congress and Nancy Pelosi’s broken promise to drain the swamp.
Why might the Post article and this widening investigation of ties between lawmakers and lobbyists — neither of which relate to Rangel — matter for him? Though the probe has not yet found any of these House members guilty of wrongdoing, this episode will place pressure on Pelosi and her colleagues to show they’re not a party of sleaze. Consequently, Rangel is more vulnerable to the Republican’s campaign against him. If the PMA investigation heats up, he would make a great sacrificial lamb. And if the GOP continues to pursue Rangel, his party, burdened by this other ethics investigation, will have a tougher time protecting him.
Here’s a piece of clarity for the morning. The guys at Granite Grok caught up with Senator John McCain in New Hampshire. They asked him a question about earmarks, and they recorded the answer. Transcribed:
5 Comments
neil · August 13, 2007 at 1:41 PM
Maybe so, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Congressmen are proud of their earmarks. Congressmen make earmarks so that their constituents will see that they bringing jobs and money back to the district. More transparency will only intensify the competition — who wants to deal with campaign commercials saying that you brought home less money than anyone but Ron Paul?
Transparency is a good thing where spending is concerned, but it’s not going to end or slow earmarks.
eye · August 13, 2007 at 1:46 PM
I think that the point is that it will be easier to find the corrupt ones.
neil · August 13, 2007 at 2:29 PM
Wake me up when someone suggests a method to find and terminate corrupt Pentagon contracts.
eyeon08.com » Barnes on GOP: Importance of earmarks and ethics · August 21, 2007 at 11:30 AM
[…] There has been a debate about whether earmarks are the problem and a good political issue. Patrick Hynes has taken the position that while they are bad, they are not a motivating issue. Ramesh Ponnuru has argued that there is not much there substantively. While I agree with the substance of their criticism, I think it misses the point. To quote John McCain, "earmarks are [the] gateway to corruption." The corruption in our party turns off a lot of voters. We are not talking about using this as an issue to fire up activists, we are talking about fixing the image. […]
The Tower: Surveying the Political World From High Above » Blog Archive » Eyeon08.com comments on McCain’s answer to GraniteGrok on earmarks: “the gateway to corruption”. · August 22, 2007 at 10:34 PM
[…] You can read the full text of the original article here. You can contact The Tower at tower@campaignia.org. […]
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