Most members of the U.S. House of Representatives are conscientious, hard-working, well-meaning national legislators. But some of them – Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, for example – keep giving members of Congress “a bad name.”
Rep. Rangel, a familiar figure in the news, currently is facing 13 charges of violating Congress’ ethical standards.
There have been recurrent charges that he has not appropriately reported personal assets of more than $600,000 on his congressional disclosure statements. There are questions about his rent-controlled Manhattan office and his villa in the Dominican Republic, as well as other allegations of violation of House ethics rules, postal questions and more.
Rep. Rangel’s votes and actions would be bad enough, even without all of this. He keeps setting a bad example in Congress.