Democrats begin to ask Charlie Rangel to resign

Still without power, here is a mobile post. Hopefully my links will work, if they do not I apologize.

Earlier this week the House ethics committee found Charlie Rangel guilty of ethics violations for accepting a gift trip to the Caribbean. It has been my belief that, with all of the tax scandals surrounding the man who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel should at least step down from this committee while he was being investigated. After all, the House Ways and Means Committee writes the tax laws that Charlie Rangel was violating.

But not only did that not happen, Democrats– who promised to run the most ethical and honest congress ever– came to this tax cheat’s defense. Now that he is a known tax cheat that could be changing.

Democrat House members are now calling for him to resign his chairmanship. Paul Hodes, Gene Taylor, and Bobby Bright are the first Democrats to call for Charlie Rangel to resign as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Here is what New Hampshire congressman Paul Hodes had to say:

“I honor and respect Charlie Rangel’s lifetime of service as a soldier serving our country in Korea and as a public servant. But Washington must be held to the highest ethical standards. Regrettably, with the finding of ethics violations, Charlie Rangel should step down from his leadership position.”

Being from New Hampshire, this might be the first time that Paul Hodes has said something that I agree with, unfortunately he is not my congressman and Carol Shea Porter remains mum on this issue.

And the other Democrats mentioned above had similar statements, yet Nancy Pelosi still appears to be ready and willing to defend this tax cheat. I can understand Democrats coming to the defense of Charlie Rangel until after the investigation is over, but there is no excuse for it now. The investigation is over and he was found to have violated ethics rules– and there are still more investigations pending– so it is time for him to resign, at least his chairmanship and I won’t be happy until he resigns from the House period!

Some Democrats– probably those who are involved in tight re-election campaigns– are beginning to see the inevitable, but the leaders appear to be either oblivious or uncaring to the corruption that is happening right under their noses. Perhaps if more Democrats come out strongly against Charlie Rangel the leadership will be forced to take action, but until then nothing will change.

Republicans seem to be strangely quiet on this issue as well, where are all the Republicans demanding for Charlie Rangel’s resignation? They should be front and center on this issue but they seem unwilling to take a stand. Why is that? What are they afraid of?

It is time for Charlie Rangel to step down.