Mitchell Calls for Rangel’s Gavel

Threatening that bulwark now, however, is the skittishness of freshman and sophomore Democrats, who have the thinnest history with Rangel himself and a loyalty instead to the good-government platform that helped sweep them into office in 2006 and 2008.

A handful of them called on Rangel to relinquish his post in the immediate aftermath of last week’s ethics committee announcement.

And sophomore Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.) added his name to that list on Monday, with a spokesman telling Roll Call in a statement that Mitchell thinks it would be “inappropriate for Mr. Rangel to continue to serve as Chairman.” Two others, freshman Reps. Jim Himes (Conn.) and Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), confirmed they will return campaign contributions they have received from Rangel.

Read more: (Tory Newmyer and Jackie Kucinich, “Battle Grows Over Rangel’s Future,” Roll Call, 03/02/10)