Much like his legendary predecessor Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Congressman Charles B. Rangel’s enemies increased as his power and influence expanded over the years. Rangel’s foes had been perched in the tall weeds, poised to pounce when the high-ranking Rangel was at his most vulnerable.
And that’s exactly what happened. Rangel, D-N.Y., gave them an opening and they quickly collapsed on his jugular. Rangel was found guilty of 11 ethics violations out of 13 charges, including tax evasion and faces the specter of being censured, which would make him an ineffective representative. Rangel, in turn, offered a peculiar apology for a host of problems that originate with him, saying that he was guilty of “sloppiness” and not “corruption” when he, for example, forgot to pay his taxes for 17 years.
A respected Korean War veteran who has served in Congress since 1970, Rangel’s power increased incrementally due to being re-elected 21 times virtually unopposed, much like Powell, his predecessor. And there was little accountability in the latter years of Rangel’s reign, much like in the case of Powell. Rangel, now 80 years old, became the first African American to become chairman of the ultra powerful House Ways and Means Committee.
Ethics committee chief counsel Blake Chisam recommended that Rangel be censured for breaking ethics rules. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights icon who will receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom, spoke on behalf of Rangel, calling him a “good and decent man, an honest man.” Lewis says Rangel, as a young man, came to Selma, Ala., and marched with him for civil rights. Lewis was brutally beaten that day, on what is known as Bloody Sunday.
Republican leadership suggested that Rangel was so sloppy, in fact, that there may be a degree of corruption there. Chisam, however, said he does not believe that Rangel is corrupt or a criminal. So Rangel’s dilemma seems to be that of a 21-term congressman, largely free of oversight by his constituency, who operated recklessly in the twilight of his 40-year legislative career. If he has a host of enemies in Congress, they didn’t have to look very hard to find ethics breaches.
On the brighter side, even if Rangel is expulsed from Congress, which is not likely, he may be qualified to host a political show on CNN. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer seems to enjoy it.
–terry shropshire
