Friday, December 5, 2008

Democrats should remove Charlie Rangel

It seems that Rangel's challenge to the media and others to investigate him has not worked out so well for him. Even if you feel you haven't done anything wrong, it's a good idea to leave sleeping dogs asleep. The latest story involves payments to Rangel's son:

Tangled Web: Rangel son got campaign cash

The facts don't look good for the Harlem Representative.

This combined with other issues concerning taxes, and favorable deals in his district should be enough.

Democrats should remove Rangel as Chariman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

It's a shame because he is a good politician who actually tries to do the right thing, rather than adhering to interest groups or some ideology.

Yet, we need to establish a culture of honesty and openness.
We need to show the American people that we will have the highest standards.
That involves policing ourselves.

This will be especially difficult because of Representative Rangel being an African American and an icon at that.

But it should be done.
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On a similar note, Representative William Jefferson who is on track to win re-election in Louisiana should be stripped of all privileges for his actions in taking $90,000 in bribes.

While he hasn't been convicted, he hasn't offered an alternative story of why he isn't guilty.

We are presumed innocent for the purposes of jail and the court.
Being a member of Congress is a privilege and we could and should have a higher standard.

btw.

Before all of these scandal stories, I had high regard for William Jefferson, and very high regard for Representative Rangel.

In Rangel's case I think his problems are normal everyday type stuff, but they have accumulated too much so that they hurt us as a party.

Jefferson seems to be a crook.

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