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Originally Posted by dogzilla
There's no time like the present to start making an example of corrupt politicians. Rangel went 17 years without paying some taxes? Why is he even in office, let alone not in jail or heavily fined?
I don't know the details of what the Republicans plan. If they are implementing strong ethics rules and don't need the OCE. I agree with what Derwood said about some independent group filing and handling ethics violations claims.
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Given that he is not facing criminal charges, he should be required to pay back taxes, which is what the committee recommended in its findings, along with being censured.
So you think the House should ignore its own standards and Rangel should be held to a higher standard than any previous Member of the House who faced ethics charges and be expelled w/o having been found guilty of criminal offenses.
Based on what? Certainly not based on precedent or the current House standards of ethics...so it must come down to your partisanship.
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In the history of the United States Congress there have been 19 Members expelled, 15 from the Senate and 4 from the House of Representatives. The majority of those expelled were removed from office for their support of the Confederacy in the immediate aftermath of secession. In 1861 eleven Southern Senators were expelled including the 1860 Democratic Presidential nominee John Breckinridge. In 1862 three more Senators were expelled for supporting the Confederate rebellion. Three Members of the House were expelled in 1861 for supporting the Confederacy as well.
There have only been three other expulsions from Congress in its entire history. In 1797 Sen. William Blount (TN) was expelled for "Anti-Spanish conspiracy" and treason. In 1980 Rep. Michael Myers (PA) was expelled for accepting money in return for using his official position to influence immigrations matters. In 2002 Rep. Jim Traficant (OH) was expelled after he was convicted on numerous counts of bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...on_and_censure
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The honorable thing for him to do is resign. The dishonorable, partisan response to hold Rangel to higher standards than any previous member of Congress.
The current ethics rules that Pelosi pushed through (with much arm-twisting of her own party) are the toughest in the history of Congress...not only with the creation of the quasi-independent OCE (members of the OCE are private citizens and cannot serve as members of Congress or work for the federal government) but with much tougher gift standards, travel standards, etc.
Could they be stronger? Absolutely. Just as it is undeniable that they are still the strongest ethics rules ever adopted by Congress.
And Boehner has made clear that ethics are not high on their agenda so it is highly unlikely that the Republicans will implement stronger ethics rules than currently exist (and that he intends to gut).