Nancy Pelosi’s high ethical standards
I didn’t see this coming: The House ethics panel has recommended a tough punishment for Charlie Rangel, the 80-year-old former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Despite his tearful plea for mercy, the panel recommended censure, which is the second toughest punishment at their disposal.
There are a couple of obvious ironies here. The first is this: Rangel might have avoided this embarrassing public spectacle and received a lesser punishment if he had taken the plea deal the ethics committee offered him over the summer. But he rejected it. As a former prosecutor, Rangel should have understood the risk of rejecting the plea.
The second irony is this: It was the iron will of outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who pledged to “drain the swamp” and elevate ethics in the House, that led to Rangel’s predicament. Over the strenuous objections of incoming House Speaker John Boehner, Pelosi insisted on establishing an independent Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate misconduct by members of the House.
Boehner plans to eliminate the OCE. From The National Journal:
Boehner and most of the other House Republicans voted against the OCE’s creation two years ago. Anticipating its closure, the office’s staff director and chief counsel, Leo Wise, has announced that he is leaving for a job with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
Under Wise, the OCE has looked into 69 complaints and recommended action on 13 of them. It has operated as an inspector general of sorts and has won praise for reviving the House’s notoriously moribund and secretive ethics process. Among others cases, the office brought to light allegations of wrongdoing by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who is now on trial in the House on charges related to fundraising, financial-disclosure, and tax irregularities.
Asked about the OCE, Buck said that Boehner will “take a look at current ethics rules” but that ethics “has really not been the focus of our transition efforts.” GOP leaders probably won’t vote publicly to kill the OCE but will simply quietly defund it next year, said John Wonderlich, policy director of the Sunlight Foundation. The foundation has been working with GOP transition leaders on their transparency agenda and has lobbied for the OCE’s preservation.
Some tea partiers want the OCE to remain open, and an Ohio group has warned Boehner not to shut it down: (h/t ThinkProgress
The Ohio Liberty Council, the main umbrella organization for 58 Tea Party groups in the state, supports efforts to strengthen the OCE and is warning House GOP leaders that any attempt to weaken it will upset Tea Party activists.
“I[f] they move in the opposite direction of transparency that this office provides, I think we will be very upset about that,” said Chris Littleton, president of the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cincinnati Tea Party. “Symbolically, it’s a huge problem for them … they should be as transparent as they can be. Any opposition to that would be inappropriate on their part.”
The tea partiers will lose the fight. Boehner will quietly shut down the office, and House members can resume business as usual.
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206 comments Add your comment
James
November 19th, 2010
9:27 am
The real reason we have both the best docs and hospitals but the cost is out of control- we are a over prescribed country. The majority of folks have a bag of pills becuase they feel blue, they sprained there wrist at C-2 ALTA match, they have a cold, etc. How in the heck are 20% of US adults mentally ill? It is insulting to those and their families that are truly mentally ill.
CHICAGO – More than 45 million Americans, or 20 percent of U.S. adults, had some form of mental illness last year, and 11 million had a serious illness, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday.
barking frog
November 19th, 2010
9:28 am
Media once was ethics investigators and subjected
politicians to voter juries. With the advent of partisan
media we no longer have that option. Woe is us.
Nothing Is Free
November 19th, 2010
9:28 am
UPS Virus delivery
Felt this was worth passing along.
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Pass this warning on to all your PC operators at work and home. This virus has caused Millions of dollars in damage in the past few days.
Snopes confirms that it is real
T-Town
November 19th, 2010
9:28 am
Pardon me Granny, but YOU posted: “The members under investigation are only revealed if the OCE recommends further review by the ethics panel, which is made up of members of Congress and a staff of lawyers and investigators.”
Now you posted something different. Spin it anyway you want, something you always seemed to do.
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
9:30 am
Life in Utopia world continues. Pelosi & ethics? JUst like Hitler and the love of life.
Georgian
November 19th, 2010
9:30 am
Yeah he is still Congressman Rangel but a joke.
He actually can be called a clown now (not just cause he looks like one) due to his actions.
What can Goodtime Charlie get accomplished now? Who can he find as allies that are going to back him in public? What is he but a vote? If anything he is an anchor on the Dem party pulling them down, holding them bakc. His actions will further hurt them in 2012 as will Pelosi’s continuation as party leader. Dems learned nothing from their historic defeat, so they will have to be show again what it means.
Nothing Is Free
November 19th, 2010
9:32 am
Finn McCool
What makes her an ethics violator is the fact that she used her power to circumvent California pollution laws so her exclusive golf course could dump insecticides into the ground water.
She also claims to support unions but has union reps thrown off her land when they try to organize her vineyard workers. Not a violation, just a democrat being a democrat.
granny godzilla
November 19th, 2010
9:32 am
T Town
Good Point…..seems the reporting form thehill.com isn’t totally accurate.
I’ll do some homework, and you can do some homework and let’s get to the bottom of it.
A bipartisan effort, you and I?
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:34 am
Nothing is Free-
Michelle Bachman is for limited government but her family takes farm subsidies.
Kinda goes both ways.
Jack
November 19th, 2010
9:35 am
The swamp has been drained only partially as shown on Nov 2nd. We’ve got a long way to go.
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
9:35 am
The cost of US healthcare, in a free market economy, is that all the R&D, and all that cancer elimination technique that is being developed, and allows those who are gravely ill to survive, is very, very expensive – for every solution discovered, there are probably 50 that are tried and prove useless. That said, the non for profit hospitals in GA are exploiting the system pretty bad – some moron cardiologist at Tanner Medical Center scheduled me for a stress test – no problem, had one a few years ago, costs about $500 for 30 minutes of work (good value for the hospital); when I was being checked in, the tech gave me the procedure estimate – $7000!! I cancelled immediately. But, if the Dr had told me the cost, I could have saved my time & his (should Doctors know the cost of the tests they request?).
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
9:37 am
This is step 1 – if the RINO’s in Congress don’t begin to reduce spending, then we will see a full fledged independent party, the TEA party – aimed at the operation of the domestic US government. They MUST BALANCE THE BUDGET through spending cuts.
Paddy O
November 19th, 2010
9:38 am
NIF: Just a hypocrit being a hypocrit. Or, a wealthy person exercising the power of the wealthy.
T-Town
November 19th, 2010
9:38 am
Granny; In my old age and having been screwed over by both parties, I’m a true Independent. I believe I can work with anyone and would love to work with you to get through all the smoke and mirrors. I have found out, just like you just did, what is posted on the Internet is not always fact.
granny godzilla
November 19th, 2010
9:38 am
T-Town
Here’s the Text of the resolution creating the OCE let’s review it together shall we?
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:40 am
Paddy O-
Please find 1.4 trillion in spending cuts?
Nothing Is Free
November 19th, 2010
9:41 am
Some People
Does SHE take government subsidies?
I have family members that are actually democrats. (YEEEESH!!!!)
We can’t be held responsible for everyone in our gene pool.
Harry Callahan
November 19th, 2010
9:42 am
“Nancy Pelosi’s high ethical standards”
Congratulations Cynthia…you just edged ahead of Jay Bookman for the “consistently dumbest opinions of 2010″ award.
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:42 am
Nothing is Free-
Actually she does, its her farm.
James
November 19th, 2010
9:43 am
some people are stupid- exporting the far right and far left would be a start- we would save on defense and hand outs. Yep- there is the plan.
Nothing Is Free
November 19th, 2010
9:43 am
Paddy O
If you get a chance, pick up “Do As I Say”
Great book. Pelosi is discussed in great detail as is the late Uncle Teddy.
Harry Callahan
November 19th, 2010
9:43 am
Finn McCool
November 19th, 2010
9:27 am
“Where do you people go to school? How do you come to conclusions like that? Were you home schooled in a cave?”
No, but if we were, it would STILL be a better education than what you get in today’s failing joke government-run schools.
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:44 am
Nothing is Free-
Is it an ethics violation do use your power to get no bid government contracts for your company?
quod erat demonstrandum
November 19th, 2010
9:44 am
Regardless of party affiliation, conservatives in Congress will have to take control and steer this republic back to its roots. For the folks in mid-town that means abiding by what the Constitution says and not what they want it to say.
President Reagan had his famous Executive Order 12612, called Federalism. One section stated -
Sec. 2. Fundamental Federalism Principles. In formulating and implementing policies that have federalism implications, Executive departments and agencies shall be guided by the following fundamental federalism principles:
(a) Federalism is rooted in the knowledge that our political liberties are best assured by limiting the size and scope of the national government.
(b) The people of the States created the national government when they delegated to it those enumerated governmental powers relating to matters beyond the competence of the individual States.
All other sovereign powers, save those expressly prohibited the States by the Constitution, are reserved to the States or to the people.
Now, that was a President.
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:45 am
James-
Appreciate you looking at both sides. That is a start.
kayaker 71
November 19th, 2010
9:48 am
The arrogance of most politicians today reflects their separation from the public and from reality. And Nancy is the poster child for this kind of behavior. Privileged, rich (worth nearly 26M), Pelosi lives in some kind of competitive dream world, thriving on power plays and deception. She is about as far from an ethical leader as they come and she certainly is not helping the Democrats in their efforts to repair the damage of Nov 2, much of which was Nancy’ s fault. She and others like her still don’t get it. And you wonder why the public identifies with Sarah Palin?
James
November 19th, 2010
9:50 am
I think there are a number of people looking at both sides. Couldn’t join any group called the tea party. We need a middle class uprising called “whiskey and beer drinkers” “the common folk crowd” “the apple dumpling gang’ – it needs a creative mind behind it.
Liberal Chicks are UGLY
November 19th, 2010
9:50 am
Pelosi Ethical! LOL! That’s like calling Mao Se Tung a humanitarian….
Liberal Chicks are UGLY
November 19th, 2010
9:52 am
I can always count on this idiotic blog to make me feel intellectually superior. If this is my competition, I ain’t worried.
Some People are stupid
November 19th, 2010
9:52 am
James-
Dare I say we have some one on this blog that is actually in the center.
Mr. Obvious
November 19th, 2010
9:54 am
Nancy Pelosi’s High Ethical Standards:
Almost as High as Her Sex Appeal with Conservative, Heterosexual, Male NASCAR Fans
Albeit
November 19th, 2010
9:57 am
God, give it a rest. High ethical standards?
Liberal Chicks are UGLY
November 19th, 2010
9:58 am
@Albeit—
She ain’t God, and this is the best she can do…What did you expect, substance?
James
November 19th, 2010
10:03 am
yeah- really focused on bringing jobs back to the ol’ US of A focused in the great city of atlanta. The big guys dumped those jobs over seas and now see that the bean counters weren’t right as they assumed quality and didn’t take into acct language and time and travel issues. The average Chinese is demanding more stuff and therefore they have upward wage pressure- it is time to enable the great American (unemployed) worker.
barking frog
November 19th, 2010
10:10 am
quod erat demonstrandum
November 19th, 2010
9:44 am
———————————————————————-
Most of his life Reagan was a Democrat, like Sonny Perdue
and Nathan Deal.
T-Town
November 19th, 2010
10:10 am
Granny; I’ve read 895 several times and it lists how the Board is made up, their power and responsibilities. What it doesn’t go into is how the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (and I may be wrongly assuming that this is the Ethics Panel your post alluded to) is chosen. Without knowing what congressmen, lawyers, and investigators are on this panel we will not know just how ethical and impartial the panel really is.
Auburn Fan
November 19th, 2010
10:14 am
Rangel should go to jail like normal folks would.
quod erat demonstrandum
November 19th, 2010
10:18 am
barking frog, and you point is – as I stated earlier – Conservatives, regardless of party affiliation.
Equality 7-2521
November 19th, 2010
10:19 am
How was that high ethical standard upheld when we were supposed to have time to read the Health Care bill?
In this case she had nothing to lose. Rangel goes no where, and she looks as if she has ethical standards….
Ben The Independent
November 19th, 2010
10:20 am
Wow: Another ‘gold star’ for Nancy as seen thru the eyes of Ms Tucker. I hope the Dems will continue to promote the exploits of Nancy until 2012. Thanks, Cynthia
barking frog
November 19th, 2010
10:23 am
quod erat demonstrandum
November 19th, 2010
10:18 am
Yes, all remained true to their basic philosophy and
were partisan strictly for political gain.
Kitty Conrad
November 19th, 2010
10:23 am
It is seldom that CT says anything to agree with. But amazingly, I agree with her (and a lot of other folks smarter than CT) that the OCE should not be defunded. Indeed, it should be staffed by lawyers who work on a contingency basis and let them investigate all of them.
But for CT to claim Pelosi has high ethical standards is the most laughable thing I’ve heard in a long time. That woman has no concept of right and wrong.
drinking the koolaid...
November 19th, 2010
10:30 am
third column from CT that ends with “GOP will do something wrong or bad”…sounds like a Dem version of Hannity to me (which consists of saying how great your party is then giving a baseless opinion of how the other party will mess it up). And note that there wasn’t one word of support for the tea party folks wanting to push this forward.
More proof that, no matter what, politicians…and the blogs that support them, are all the same.
ButtHead
November 19th, 2010
10:32 am
Granny you are so funny,”the OCE members don’t work for the federal government”, please look at their check stubs, paid for by USA taxpayer money….
luangtom
November 19th, 2010
10:33 am
Mr. Rangel is at the end of his career. He is the sacrificial lamb of the Dems for their ethics show and dance. Princess Nancy will still have perks and special treatment as Minority Leader and she will not show any remorse or humility for hauling herself and her cronies around in a government-paid jet for personal use. Afterall, she deserved it. All will soon again be stauts-quo in the Congress. Not much changes in DC, except the names and titles. Business as usual…..
Willie Horton
November 19th, 2010
10:34 am
1. You don’t pay federal income tax-you don’t vote. End of stupid people putting crooks and like-minded stupid people into office.
2. Term limits. Only possible once you enact item 1.
3. Abolish all unions whose members draw wages/salaries from taxes. No exceptions. You want to work for the taxpayers, you have no right to organize.
barking frog
November 19th, 2010
10:44 am
A great help to ethics in the House of Representatives
would be to expand the term to 4 years with the
election held at midterm to the President and
coinciding with the Governor. Campaign money
pressure would be relieved and congressmen
could pay more attention to government.
seabeau
November 19th, 2010
10:47 am
He needs to be ejected from the House. Of the five House members ejected thru the years, all are Democrats. Hopefully it will soon be six
Halftrack
November 19th, 2010
10:48 am
CT, You need to watch the Steve Wilkos show. Censure has lost any kind of meaning these days except a sentence in the history record for Congress. What should happen is that this should be turned over to the IRS and other law agencies for criminal prosecution. Once again we see some people are apparently above the law. What a crock, no wonder Congress’s approval rating is so low. Too bad Charlie can’t blame this on Bush.
seabeau
November 19th, 2010
10:51 am
He said that it was Adam Clayton Powell’s fault.