Rangel Needs to Find the Exit

It is with great regret that I write that Democrats must remove Charlie Rangel from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Almost everyone likes Rangel, which is why he’s survived a raft of allegations of financial impropriety that would make a Wall Street banker blush.

The New York congressman, cited again as one of the most corrupt members of Congress by the respected nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, beat back a resolution Wednesday introduced by a Texas Republican to strip him of his chairmanship. The claim: the country’s chief tax writer shouldn’t be cheating on his taxes. Rangel’s office called it a “highly partisan effort.” Democrats closed ranks. It failed.

Read more: (Margaret Carlson, “Swamp Creature Rangel Needs to Find the Exit,” Bloomberg, 10/09/09)