But I’m not too hopeful that actual justice will be done:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement late Wednesday, on Thanksgiving eve, that she expects a House Ethics committee report on the questioned dealings of Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to be completed by Jan. 3.
Pelosi’s statement followed two days of renewed questions regarding Rangel, after a New York Times article reported he “was instrumental in preserving a lucrative tax loophole that benefited an oil-drilling company last year, while at the same time its chief executive was pledging $1 million” to help fund a new City College of New York school of public service that will be named in Rangel’s honor.
This latest New York Times story was followed the next day by an editorial in the same paper, which called on Pelosi to ensure the ethics investigation was moving forward. “We hope that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is shocked into action. She should insist that the ethics investigation move forward — and that Mr. Rangel relinquish his chairmanship during the inquiry. If Mr. Rangel continues to resist, the speaker should permanently reassign the gavel. In a deep economic crisis, the committee, and the country, cannot afford the distraction,” the Times editorialized.
The Washington Post jumped into the fray as well, writing Saturday that Rangel “should step aside as chairman while the ethics committee expands its inquiry.”
Given what happened to DeLay, Rangel should be forced to resign – but, be that as it may, this is the central test as to whether or not Pelosi’s Congress will really be something new, or just more of the same. To a lesser degree, it is also a challenge to Obama – if there is a whitewash or some sort of special treatment given to Rangel, then it will be up to Obama to make clear that he is displeased with such an outcome – if he doesn’t, then that will be yet another indicator that “pay for play” is still the name of the Democrat’s game.
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