I have no idea if the ethics charges against Rep. Rangel and Rep. Waters are valid or whether they should resign. I find it odd though how conveniently scandals that should have resulted in ethics charges charges against white politicians like Senators Ensign and Vitter have yet to be brought brought. They appear to be in perpetual “investigation” mode and just disappear down the media rabbit hole.
Even the infamous Duke Cunningham who was convicted openly taking bribes is rarely mentioned today, though he openly admitted to selling his votes for more than $2 MILLION DOLLARS. Waters on the other hand is being charged for a single incident for which no details have been provided by Congressional investigators:
Without detailing the accusations, the House Ethics Committee released an investigative report that found “substantial reason” to believe that Waters may have violated ethics rules. The case centers on a meeting Waters set up in September 2008, during the financial crisis, between Treasury Department officials and representatives of minority-owned banks.
But discussion at the meeting “centered on a single bank — OneUnited,” according to the report by the Office of Congressional Ethics. Waters’ husband, Sidney Williams, served on the OneUnited board from 2004 to 2008, and at the time of the September meeting was a stockholder in the bank, the report said.
Three months after Waters, a senior member of the House committee that oversees banking, called then-Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to set up the meeting, OneUnited received $12 million in bailout funds.
A defiant Waters — a South Los Angeles political fixture who won election to the state Assembly in 1976 and to Congress in 1990 — vowed Monday to fight the charges.
“I have not violated any House rules. Therefore, I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do,” she said. “The record will clearly show that in advocating on behalf of minority banks, neither my office nor I benefited in any way, engaged in improper action or influenced anyone.”
Unless a settlement is reached, Waters, 71, will face a trial, probably this fall, before an eight-member panel of fellow House members evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Punishment for ethics violations can range from reprimand to censure and even expulsion from the House.
The former Majority leader of the Republicans in the House, Tom DeLay, was allowed to retain his seat even after was never brought up on Ethics charges despite being indicted by a Grand Jury in his home State of Texas and deep involvement in numerous unsavory and possibly criminal activities.. People forget he never resigned his seat while under indictment. Now he who seen his career resurrected on Fox News and Dancing with the Stars even as his trial continues to be delayed (yes that was a bad pun).
Maybe their is an unwritten rule in Congress to not bring ethics charges against white politicians, especially white Republicans who engage in unethical and illegal conduct, even when the Democrats are in charge. But God help a black politician who gets caught up in one of these scandals. They seem to get their investigations fast tracked while their white Republican compatriots get put on the back burner.
Perhaps Steve Benen says it best about the disparty in treatment between Black Democrats and white Republicans when it comes to ethics violations and alleged criminal conduct:
… The NYT had a piece the other day trying to draw parallels between some recent Dem controversies — Paterson, Rangel, Massa — and the Republicans’ infamous culture of corruption in 2006. Even Time’s Karen Tumulty, who usually knows better, lent credence to the idea.
So, let’s clear things up a little. First, there’s a quantitative difference. Have there been some Democrats who’ve run into trouble of late? Obviously, yes, but the list includes a modest number of isolated incidents.
In contrast, the corruption that overcame the Republican establishment during their reign of error was systemic and overwhelming. After a while, so many GOP officials were involved in scandals, the names started to blur together. Which one was Abramoff’s buddy? Which one took bribes from defense contractors? Which one had his home raided by the FBI? Which one was locked up in a federal penitentiary? If Republicans really want to talk about ethical lapses, it’s worth reminding them of names like DeLay, Cunningham, Ney, Foley, Lewis, Burns, Stevens, Craig, Vitter, Miller, and Renzi, among others.
By August 2007, Republican strategist Scott Reed said the party’s corruption scandals were “approaching a level of ridiculousness…. Republicans think the governing class in Washington are a bunch of buffoons who have total disregard for the principles of the party, the law of the land and the future of the country.”
Also note that Republicans went to great pains to shield their scandal-plagued allies from punishment. In one particularly egregious incident, the GOP caucus changed its own rules to allow Tom DeLay to stay on as the House Majority Leader after he’d been indicted.
In contrast, Dems cut their scandal-plagued allies off quickly. Paterson has no support. Massa is a pariah in Democratic circles. No one returns the phone calls of Rod Blagojevich or John Edwards.
And finally, the Republican argument is premised on the notion that the GOP scandals are a thing of the past, and now it’s Dems’ turn to look awful. But that’s silly. Not only were there more scandal-plagued Republicans before, there are arguably more scandal-plagued Republicans now. Indeed, the entire ethics push comes as a sitting GOP senator is in the midst of a humiliating sex scandal involving likely crimes and ethics violations.
It’s not just Ensign. In the midst of Republicans’ new-found interest in propriety, the list of current GOP members with ethics troubles is already pretty long: Vitter, Sanford, Pete Sessions, Nathan Deal, Don Young, Ken Calvert, and others.
But hey, this is America. We all know the game. The media winks and nods at white Republican wrongdoing. Democrats on the other hand, especially African American Democrats …
Well let’s just say I’m sure the media will be talking about the evil, corrupt and mendacious Democrats a lot longer than they ever did (or will) talk about the misdeeds of Republicans now in Congress or out.
