Democrat Dirty Laundry: House Ethics Panel Expands Investigation Into Tax-Cheat Charlie

October 8, 2009

House Ethics Panel Expands Investigation Into Tax-Cheat Charlie

Democrats Allow Corrupt Chairmen Rangel to Cling to Power Even as Committee Widens Scope of Inquiry

SPIN CYCLE:Democrats Promised to ‘Drain the Swamp’ and Sweep Corruption out of Washington

“‘Drain the swamp’ means to turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history. That’s my pledge — that is what I intend to do,’ Pelosi stated in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams.” (Brian Williams, “Rep. Pelosi poised to make history,” NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, 11/08/2006)

RINSE CYCLE: House Ethics Committee Votes Unanimously to Expand Investigation Into Rangel’s Myriad Financial and Ethical Lapses

The House ethics committee is expanding its investigation of Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to include his August disclosure of more than $500,000 worth of assets that he failed to previously report.

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has been investigating Rangel for months over an array of failures in his financial reporting, including his failure to report rental income from a Dominican beach house.

Rangel last year announced that he was hiring a forensic auditor to review all of his disclosure forms and make the appropriate amendments. He also asked the ethics committee to commence the investigation into his finances, saying he was confident the committee would find no wrongdoing.

In August, Rangel filed an amended disclosure form for 2007 that added about a dozen assets worth more than $500,000 that he had not previously disclosed.

The ethics committee announced Thursday that it voted unanimously to expand the charge of the subcommittee investigating Rangel “to determine if Representative Rangel violated the Code of Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct … with respect to all Financial Disclosure Statements and all amendments filed in calendar year 2009.”

The committee said that, thus far in the investigation, the subcommittee has “authorized the issuance of close to 150 subpoenas; interviews approximately 34 witnesses resulting in over 2,100 pages of transcripts; reviewed and analyzed over 12,000 pages of documents; and held over 30 investigative subcommittee meetings.”

Republicans have argued that Rangel should be forced to relinquish his gavel while the investigation continues. (Paul Singer, “Ethics Panel Expands Rangel Investigation,” Roll Call, October 8, 2009)

To read the full article, click here: http://www.rollcall.com/news/39361-1.html

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