Charles Rangel was summoned to the well of the House floor today while Speaker Nancy Pelosi read a censure resolution strongly passed by a 333 to 79 vote. For those who dont know what censure means (me), it is a form of public shaming in which the subject politician must stand before his "peers" as a censure resolution is read to him for all to hear. Yes, I was expecting something worse as well but apparently the ordeal was quite embarassing for Rangel. He had even pleaded for a reprimand, which is a lesser form of punishment which can be given in private or by letter; but perhaps the biggest blow dealt to the congressman was his forced resignation from the Ways and Means Committee. Charged with 11 ethics violations, Rangel was told to pay restitution and provide proof-of-payment for unpaid taxes.
Now is it just me or do these "punishments" seem a bit too gentlemanly and courteous? Yes, it's the Congress of the United States but its a little bit absurd in my opinion.
9 comments:
I actually think that censure and his forced resignation are humiliating enough as a punishment, especially combined with the negative media coverage Rangel has gotten with this scandal; one of the most important things to a politician is his or her reputation, and that of Rangel's has been severely damaged by this incident.
To punish a man, especially one who is congressman, for his wrong doing's in politics by embarrassing him is weird and somewhat childish. Can't they just tell him that he is being punished for so and so and has to do something to repay it? Like Sarah said, he is already humiliated enough why add more on to it. I would never expect the government to chastise someone by humiliating them, but that's how they feel is the best way to deal with the problem. Hopefully the government sees how foolish and childish Charles Rangel's punishment was and decided that they can just inform the person next time that they must do something to repay for what they did.
When this issue first came up the only thing I thought was, "how surprising, another corrupt mule." However, I now have even more to say. Although Rangel's punishment may seem too lax, I now hold the position that it may in fact be too harsh. Yes, Rangel is a Democrat. Yes, he "forgot" to pay taxes. Yes, he has abused his power to garner support for a policy center. However, No his "not a crook", well at least not entirely. In his tenure as a politician, Rangel has furthered the efforts of many interest including those of the poor, uneducated, those with human rights violations, and also those industries affected most by the attack of the Trade Towers on 9/11/2001. As a symbol of leadership in the country, I think that the open rebuke of Rangel by his fellow representatives will reduce the publics respect for the congress even more than it currently is. Rangel's issues should have been silenced and dealt with professionally rather than turning his embarrassing situation into a national spectacle. In order to answer the questions of those who want to respond to my enlightened opinion; No, I don't think that congressmen should be above the law or above punishment, but I believe that there are more delicate and subtle manners in which ethics violations can be dealt with, and ways in which Rangel could possible resign and pay(with money) for his crimes without letting the public catch wind of why he would resign. We do not make public examples out of esteemed senators or representatives, but yes we do make a public example out of a "normal Joe", this is done to preserve the nations image in the eyes of the general public and of people around the world. A good example of this would be President Ford expunging Ex-President Nixon for his possible involvement in the Watergate scandal, such a political maneuver saved the nation additional disgrace.
I actually approve of this punishment. To me, it's always disheartening to see the lawmaker themselves break the law (oh the irony). Due to the nature of their position, I think public shaming is appropriate. If they are publicly praised for the good things they do, then it should be equal likely that they are publicly shamed for the bad things they do.
This punishment definitely seems a little bit off to me. It really does remind me of a parent doing some finger waving at a child, and while that is embarrassing, I think that it is an unnecessary punishment. To be honest, I'm kind of embarrassed that this kind of thing receives a decent amount of attention and time in the house. As Sarah said, forced recognition and public humiliation through the press is punishment enough.
^^Replying to Lushang,
to say that a law maker is breaking the law is ironic, but to say that we do not do the same sometimes is also hypocritical.
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we're human, we make mistakes, and we do at least sometimes contradict ourselves with what we say and what we do.
you know how the saying goes "do as i say, not do as i do"
but come on, this punishment to me sounds like a bunch of girls are at an old school pajama slumber party writing down a whole mess of things in a slam book, posting it on facebook, and having the page from the book given to the person.
say what you got to say whether good or bad --but to publicly humiliate the person whether a teenaged girl or a U.S. congressman is messed up on so many levels. who's to say that what a person did was wrong is not as bad as what you do to the person is wrong?
with all that aside, doesn't congress got better things to do like help me and other U.S. citizens find a job?
-raymond lim
Personally, I am quite disappointed in our political system and the denizens of New York's fifteenth district. For a man that evaded taxes, received unauthorized "gifts" from special interests, and embezzled party funds to create a shrine for himself (i.e., the Rangel Center in the City College of New York), Rangel's getting off pretty easily. A censure is fairly analogous to a simple slap on the wrist and a pedagogical "You've been a naughty boy, Charlie." And even though losing a powerful committee chairmanship is a blow, Rangel deserves far worse for his malicious and selfish actions.
What I find even more disheartening is that Rangel won 80% of the popular vote in New York's 15th District during the 2010 midterm elections in the midst of this scandal! He won by an 8 to 1 margin over his closest competitor, and that is absolutely absurd. If we can't expect Congress or the people to punish rogue politicians for their detrimental actions, who are we supposed to look to? How will justice be served? Cases like Rangel's make me lose quite a bit of faith in the democratic process of our nation.
In all honesty, Rangel should be in jail, not serving as the fourth most senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
And for those of you that would like to see a numerical summary of this insanity: http://www.politicsdaily.com/tag/Charlie%20Rangel/
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