Rangel is alone in punishment but not wrongdoing
By Dana Milbank
WashPost
Thursday, March 4, 2010
It must have been a strange feeling for Charlie Rangel as he walked into Statuary Hall on Wednesday for fellow congressman Jack Murtha's memorial service. Murtha, who died three weeks ago, was being eulogized, but Rangel was the one getting buried.
Two hours earlier, Rangel, under pressure from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), held a hastily announced news conference to say that he was giving up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The New York Democrat's fate had been sealed last week when the House ethics committee admonished him for unethical behavior while awarding Murtha a posthumous exoneration and clearing six other lawmakers of separate ethics violations.
Now, as he was led to his seat near the front, Rangel had to flash a smile, even though the man seated next to him, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), seemed to be studying the program to the point of memorization to avoid conversing with him. Rangel carried some reading material of his own: a binder labeled "CBR Report."
CBR: Central Bank of Russia? Comic Book Resources? Championship Bull Riding?
(More here.)
WashPost
Thursday, March 4, 2010
It must have been a strange feeling for Charlie Rangel as he walked into Statuary Hall on Wednesday for fellow congressman Jack Murtha's memorial service. Murtha, who died three weeks ago, was being eulogized, but Rangel was the one getting buried.
Two hours earlier, Rangel, under pressure from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), held a hastily announced news conference to say that he was giving up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The New York Democrat's fate had been sealed last week when the House ethics committee admonished him for unethical behavior while awarding Murtha a posthumous exoneration and clearing six other lawmakers of separate ethics violations.
Now, as he was led to his seat near the front, Rangel had to flash a smile, even though the man seated next to him, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), seemed to be studying the program to the point of memorization to avoid conversing with him. Rangel carried some reading material of his own: a binder labeled "CBR Report."
CBR: Central Bank of Russia? Comic Book Resources? Championship Bull Riding?
(More here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home