New York Democrat Congressman Charlie Rangel who is also the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee blamed his staff for the violation of a House Rule an ethics panel is admonishing him for. “Common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or errors of staff unless there is reason to believe the members knew or should have known,” said Mr. Rangel. Four Democrats are already calling on him to step down from his chairmanship.
While the panel report did not include any formal charges, the committee on standards of offiicial conduct will continue to probe Mr. Rangel on potential other violations. The ethics committee did state, however, that his staff was aware of corporate money being paid for Mr. Rangel’s Caribbean funded trips.
Mr. Rangel is easily passing the buck to his staff, but his spokesman Emil Milne, refused to be clear as to whether or not there has been any staff terminations, reprimands, or changes as a result of the ethics panel probe.
“The only information that’s going out is last night’s press conference, when the congressman spoke, and there was a press release. That’s all we’ve got. I’ve got nothing else,” said Mr. Miine.
It appears Mr. Rangel does not want to be held accountable, because he says he did not do it, and he does not want this staffer to be held accountable, and the result is he wants nobody to be held accountable.
