Let’s see if one is credibly charged with
…improper corporate-financed travel to the Caribbean; failing to report a half-million dollars in assets on a financial disclosure form; failing to pay taxes on income of $75,000 from a villa in the Dominican Republic; using his congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a school named for him; accepting four rent-subsidized apartments in New York from a Realtor, and using one of them as an office..
And one is a long serving Democrat, one gets
The ethics panel investigating Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is recommending that he be reprimanded for the conduct that resulted in 13 charges against the veteran lawmaker.
There was no recommendation for punishment listed in the lengthy report issued by Green’s panel on Thursday.
So much for holding elected officials, also (supposed to be) known as public servants, to higher standards. Usually, as a partisan political person, I would write “imagine had Rangel been a Republican.” Instead, imagine he had not been a longer term member of Congress (with elections coming up), but, you or I: we would have been looking at a long trial with the good possibility of huge fines and a jail sentence.
Must be nice to be part of the ruling class.
Give it up to TPM commenters for decrying Rangel simply getting a reprimand.
I recommend a Vigilance Committee visit for that committee. A severe lesson in ethics with that, ya think?