Call for NY's Rangel to resign from Congress

Call for NY's Rangel to resign from Congress
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 12/8/2008 6:00:00 AM


A Georgia congressman is calling on the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel, to resign amid the ethics cloud hanging over him.

The House Ethics Committee is reportedly investigating the veteran New York Democrat for failing to pay taxes on his Caribbean villa, and his use of four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem. Rangel is also accused of using congressional stationery to raise money for a center named after him at the City College of New York. Congressman Paul Broun (R-Georgia) notes Rangel has admitted he is guilty of tax evasion and multiple House ethics violations. "We've seen over and over again where Republicans and conservatives have been forced out of their office or have resigned when they've been involved in much less egregious types of errors than Mr. Rangel has," he points out. "So it's time for him to resign his committee chairmanship -- and frankly, I think he should resign from Congress." Broun says he hopes pressure will continue to mount against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to get Rangel to step down. "When she was sworn in [and] made her speeches as speaker of the House, she said we were going to have a new era of high ethics and integrity," Broun notes. "Nothing has been further from the truth. "She talked about a new openness and a new era of bipartisanship," says the Georgia Republican. "We've seen more partisanship [and] we've seen more unethical things going on from her and her leadership than we did even under the Republican leadership when the Republicans were in charge" According to Broun, "now is not the time to offer yet another bailout -- this one to a Pelosi crony on the Hill -- when Representative Rangel has abused his position and made a mockery of the law."