Ethics Probe Has Leading Dems in the Crosshairs

Ethics Probe Has Leading Dems in the Crosshairs

Taxpayer-Funded Caribbean Getaway Leads to Full-On Investigation of Rangel and Friends

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, 11/8/06)

RINSE CYCLE:

House Ethics Committee Launches Investigation After Notoriously Corrupt Charlie Rangel Leads Pack of Dems on Crooked Caribbean Trip

The House ethics committee has launched a formal investigation into two trips Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.

The committee voted Wednesday to establish an investigative subcommittee to look into the matter and issued a release late that night.

“The subcommittee will have jurisdiction to conduct a full and complete inquiry into allegations that have arisen regarding the sponsorship of the travel in 2007 and 2008,” the release stated. “At the conclusion of its inquiry, the subcommittee is to report its findings, conclusions and recommendations to the full committee.”
House rules imposed by Democrats after they took back the majority in 2006 bar lawmakers from accepting travel lasting more than two days if corporations that “employ or retain a registered lobbyist” are underwriting or organizing any part of the trip.

Lawmakers who attended the Caribbean trip listed the New York Carib Foundation, a nonprofit group affiliated with a newspaper aimed at New York City’s U.S. Caribbean immigrant community, as the sponsor.

In addition to Rangel, Reps. Carolyn Kilpatrick (Mich.), Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas), Donald Payne (N.J.), Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Virgin Islands Del. Donna Christensen (D) attended the 2008 trip to St. Maarten.

Rangel, his chief of staff George Dalley and Christensen, Thompson, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who chaired the ethics panel at the time, participated in the 2007 trip to Antigua and Barbuda.

In remarks at the conference during a session in St. Maarten, Payne and Kilpatrick thanked the corporate sponsors of the event, according to Flaherty’s notes and transcripts. His photos showed two large banners displaying the corporate logos of Citigroup, AT&T, Pfizer, IBM, Verizon and others posted directly above and attached to the front of the podium where the two lawmakers made their remarks.

The New York Carib Foundation checked “yes” on an ethics form before the trip certifying that it would not be financed “in whole or part” by a federally registered lobbyist and that the sponsor or sponsors had not accepted “from any other source fund earmarks directly or indirectly to finance any aspect of the trip.”

To read the full article, click here http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ethics-launches-probe-of-cbc-caribbean-trip-2009-06-25.html
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