Target Dems At Odds with Ethics Committee

February 26, 2010

FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Jason Altmire (PA-04); Michael Arcuri (NY-24); John Barrow (GA-12); Sanford Bishop (GA-02); Tim Bishop (NY-01); John Boccieri (OH-16); Leonard Boswell (IA-03); Allen Boyd (FL-02); Bruce Braley (IA-01); Bobby Bright (AL-02); Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Chris Carney (PA-11); Ben Chandler (KY-06); Gerry Connolly (VA-11); Jim Costa (CA-20); Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03); Lincoln Davis (TN-04); Joe Donnelly (IN-02); Steve Driehaus (OH-01); Chet Edwards (TX-17); Bill Foster (IL-14); Gabby Giffords (AZ-08); Alan Grayson (FL-08); John Hall (NY-19); Debbie Halvorson (IL-11); Martin Heinrich (NM-01); Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL); Brian Higgins (NY-27); Baron Hill (IN-09); Jim Himes (CT-04); Tim Holden (PA-17); Steve Israel (NY-02); Steve Kagen (WI-08); Paul Kanjorski (PA-11); Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15); Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01); Larry Kissell (NC-08); Ron Klein (FL-22); Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24); Rick Larsen (WA-02); Dan Maffei (NY-25); Jim Marshall (GA-08); Eric Massa (NY-29); Jim Matheson (UT-02); Michael McMahon (NY-13); Jerry McNerney (CA-11); Michael Michaud (ME-02); Walt Minnick (ID-01); Harry Mitchell (AZ-05); Chris Murphy (CT-05); Patrick Murphy (PA-08); Glenn Nye (VA-02); Ed Perlmutter (CO-07); Tom Perriello (VA-05); Gary Peters (MI-09); Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL); Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23); Mike Ross (AR-04); Mark Schauer (MI-07); Kurt Schrader (OR-05); Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01); Heath Shuler (NC-11); Zack Space (OH-18); John Spratt (SC-05); Betty Sutton (OH-13); Harry Teague (NM-02); Dina Titus (NV-03); Tim Walz (MN-01); Charlie Wilson (OH-06); David Wu (OR-01); and John Yarmuth (KY-03).

Arcuri At Odds with Ethics Committee

New York Dem Took Rangel Money, Swept Corruption Under the Rug

Washington- With the House Ethics Committee confirming that corrupt New York Democrat Charlie Rangel is guilty of breaking key ethics rules, Michael Arcuri has put himself squarely at odds with the bipartisan panel. Arcuri has already voted twice to sweep his party’s corruption problems under the rug by letting Rangel off the hook – and is it any wonder? According to the Federal Elections Commission, Arcuri has taken $14,000 from Rangel and his PAC in campaign donations. It’ll take more than a few donations for Rangel to buy his way out of hot water, but that hasn’t stopped him and Arcuri from trying.

Arcuri repeatedly sided with his corrupt colleague while the House Ethics Committee completed its investigation into Rangel’s endless history of dirty deeds:

“Rep. Charles B. Rangel broke congressional gift rules by accepting trips to Caribbean conferences that were financed by corporate interests, the House ethics committee said Thursday.”

“The committee said its report was intended to “serve as a public admonishment” of Rangel, and it ordered him to repay costs of the trips.”

“Beyond the trips, Rangel faces more troublesome allegations regarding his failure to pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, the use of his congressional office to raise money for the wing of a New York college named in his honor, revised financial disclosure forms that show more than $500,000 in previously unreported wealth, and his use of a rent-controlled apartment for his political committees.” (Paul Kane, “Rep. Rangel’s trips broke congressional gift rules, panel says,” Washington Post, 2/26/2010)

“Michael Arcuri’s decision to repeatedly sweep Rangel’s corruption under the rug and openly accept campaign donations in return proves that he is just another Democrat who is more concerned with partisan loyalty than serving the people he’s supposed to represent,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Speaker Pelosi once promised to ‘drain the swamp’ and lead ‘the most honest and open Congress in history,’ but Arcuri and his fellow Democrats are now standing knee-deep in corruption.”

Unfortunately for Arcuri, his decision to stand with his friends in Washington rather than the voters and taxpayers of New York will come to haunt him this November.

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