EDITORIAL: The Rangel Swamp

The House ethics committee slapped Rep. Charles Rangel’s wrist Thursday, admonishing the New York Democrat for improperly accepting corporate-funded trips to Caribbean conferences in 2007 and 2008. The committee said it couldn’t prove Rangel knew about the corporate money, but said his staff sure knew and Rangel should have known.

You would have thought the signs and materials from Citigroup, Pfizer, American Airlines, AT&T, Verizon, Macy’s and IBM plastered around the 2008 conference in St. Maarten would have provided a clue that corporate money was involved. But apparently Rangel was clueless. His response to the ethics committee’s admonishment? He criticized the committee and blamed his staff. “Common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or errors of staff,” he said. What a stand-up guy.

Read more: (Editorial, “The Rangel Swamp,” Chicago Tribune, 2/27/10)