After months of holding ranks, some Democrats are finally turning on House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) in the wake of an ethics committee finding that he violated House rules by accepting a Caribbean junket.
Early Friday, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) told POLITICO he wants Rangel to quit his powerful committee post — and that was quickly followed by similar statements from a pair of deep south Democrats, Mississippi Rep. Gene Taylor and Alabama Rep. Bobby Bright.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi continues to defend Rangel, but lawmakers like Hodes are calling for Rangel’s gavel.
"I honor and respect Charlie Rangel’s lifetime of service as a soldier serving our country in Korea and as a public servant. But Washington must be held to the highest ethical standards. Regrettably, with the finding of ethics violations, Charlie Rangel should step down from his leadership position.”
Moments later, during a vote in the House, Taylor, a 10-term representative from the Gulf Coast, told POLITICO that Rangel “should step down, or at least step aside until all this is resolved.”
Taylor challenged Democratic leadership, which has backed Rangel, to move quickly.
“The citizens of his home state sent him here, that's their decision. But members of the [Democratic Caucus] made him chairman of that committee, and he should step down until all this is resolved.”
Bright, one of the most vulnerable freshmen, agreed with Taylor.
“If the ethics committee has found he's guilty of this, then my opinion is that he should step down,” Bright said.
And Rep. Mike Quigley, Democratic freshman from Chicago's North Side who took over Rahm Emanuel's old House seat, renewed his calls for Rangel to step down as chairman.
"I learned that ethics is nonpartisan — each party should stand on its own," Quigley said in a brief interview. "The history of this place is that mistakes are made on both sides. So for any side to try to argue that they're more pure than the other is silliness."
The ethics committee news broke late Thursday, moments after Rangel left the Blair House health care summit. The ethics report, which will be released today, will admonish the Harlem Democrat for accepting payment for the Caribbean trip, while acknowledging he had no direct knowledge that false or misleading information was given to the committee in its investigation of the trips. Four other members who joined Rangel on the same junket weren’t sanctioned.
The committee is still considering several other complaints against Rangel, stemming from his use of rent-regulated apartments in New York and failing to report income on his Dominican Republic villa.
But a good number of Democrats aren’t ready to revoke Rangel’s chairmanship, even as they criticize his actions.
“I think all these things are serious,” said Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.). Member of the Ways and Means committee. “You cant say this is not as serious as you robbed a bank or she, you know. But I think they’re all serious and he handled it the way he should’ve handled it.”
And Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, says Rangel’s chairmanship is secure.
“He’s doing a fine job as chairman of the Ways and Means committee and he’s going to continue to do a good job,” Lee said. “He’s a very effective chairman and he’s going to continue to serve as an effective chairman.”
Republicans think even more Democrats, including Pelosi, should be calling for Rangel’s gavel.
“Not only do we have a Democrat-led congress that refuses to listen to the American people, but Nancy Pelosi and her allies refuse to listen to themselves,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Already four House Democrats have called on Rangel to resign, and still the speaker continues to turn a blind eye to unethical and corrupt behavior within her own caucus. She promised the run the ‘most ethical congress in history’ and instead the voters got an out-of-touch, tone-deaf majority that appears to be belly flopping into the very swamp they promised to drain.”
Rep. Charles Rangel, the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 40-year veteran of Capitol Hill, acknowledged Thursday that an ethics panel has accused him of accepting Caribbean trips from a corporation in violation of House rules.
At least four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were also on the 2007 and 2008 trips were exonerated by the panel, a congressional source familiar with the findings told The Associated Press.
"I don't want to be critical of the committee but common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or errors of staff unless there's reason to believe that member knew or should have known, and there is nothing in the record to indicate the latter," Rangel said at a hastily called evening news conference on Capitol Hill.
Rangel called the findings "disturbing and said a staff members he blamed for the mistakes has been fired.
The finding is certain to jeopardize Rangel's chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The tax-writing committee will take a lead as Congress determines the fate of former President George W. Bush's expiring tax cuts.
Rangel's ethics troubles also present an election-year dilemma for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led a Democratic takeover of the House in 2006 on a campaign promise to end a "culture of corruption" in the GOP-led Congress.
Long Political Career
The 79-year-old Rangel was first elected to the House in 1970 from New York's Harlem, defeating Adam Clayton Powell Jr., at the time the most prominent black politician in the country.
Less than two hours before word of the ethics panel's findings were reported by the AP, Rangel had attended President Barack Obama's daylong summit on health care.
The committee found that the financing of the Caribbean trips was improper for all the lawmakers involved but that only Rangel was aware that a corporation that routinely lobbied Congress picked up the tab, said the congressional official who was not authorized to speak on the record.
The committee decided against issuing formal charges against Rangel that could lead to punishment such as a censure.
The ethics committee will issue its findings in a report scheduled to be made public Friday.
Additional ethics investigations of Rangel's finances and fundraising are still under way, but they are not connected to the ruling on the Caribbean travel.
Four days after speculation ramped up that Tiger Woods was headed toward the Bahamas, it appears that a RadarOnline.com article may still be true. UsMagazine.com reports that Woods' yacht is still docked in Palm Beach, Fla.
It is unknown if the golfer is spending Christmas on the yacht or elsewhere. Earlier this week rumors emerged that Woods and alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel were still having sex -- speculation that Uchitel's power lawyer, Gloria Allred, refused to completely deny -- but the allegations far from universally believed.
Woods is laying low for good reason. Since his post-Thanksgiving car accident, a flurry of rumors have surrounded the AP Athlete of the Decade. Pictures of Uchitel were taken in New York, and even more were snapped up once she arrived in Los Angeles. Woods allegedly emailed Uchitel about his erotic dream of her simultaneously having sex with Derek Jeter and Bones star David Boreanaz. He also is reported to have written an email saying that "I finally found someone I connect with."
Jaimee Grubbs was the second woman to be linked to Woods. Pictures and a video of the cocktail waitress soon hit the web, as did a voicemail and steamy text messages that Woods allegedly sent her. Even more texts were later released. More revealing pictures of Grubbs were soon unveiled to the public, and Grubbs eventually apologized to Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren.
Kalika Moquin was the next woman to be named, accompanied by a picture and video. Moquin has largely remained silent since the scandal was reported, unlike some of the other women connected to the golfer, including the fourth alleged mistress, Jamie Jungers.
Pictures of Jamie Jungers were not difficult to find, and the Las Vegas model may have worked as a stripper until just two weeks before she was named as someone Woods slept with. Jungers has not hesitated to pitch vodka or an auction web site. More notable were the racy allegations she floated about her relationship with Woods.
She says she and Tiger had sex the night his father died, and described the "wild" and "crazy" sex the two had together. She appeared on both the Today show and later on Dateline to spill additional details about her relationship.
Jungers' aunt says that her niece bragged about taking naked pictures of Woods while he was "passed out drunk," but Jungers denies the claim, even though three family members agree with her aunt.
Cori Rist was also linked to Woods. The New York mother allegedly received wire transfers from Tiger, according to her ex-husband. Rist later cried on the Today show and said that Woods is not "an honest man."
Mindy Lawton, a 34-year-old Florida waitress, says she had a year-long affair with Woods. She says the golfer is "very well endowed" and "knows his way around the bedroom."
Holly Sampson was the first porn star to be linked to Woods. NSFW pictures of the adult actress soon appeared, as did a video of the porn star describing sex with Woods, which she calls "amazing." Sampson bears a striking resemblance to a Los Angeles escort with the same name, and she went on to call her time with Woods a "sensual, beautiful experience."
Sampson is not the only porn star rumored to have slept with Woods. Joslyn James has also been named in connection with Tiger, and video of her dancing while barely clothed is available online. James is also on a most-wanted list in Washington state for failing to make child support payments.
Playboy model Loredane Jolie is another alleged mistress, as is former Floridian and current Texan Julie Postle, a striking blonde who was recently pictured in a bikini.
The most recent woman linked to Woods is also the oldest. 48-year-old "cougar" Theresa Rogers allegedly "taught Woods everything he needed to know to be a great lover" and reportedly had an affair that occurred both before and after he married Elin Nordegren.
Tiger allegedly told Rogers that he only married Nordegren to boost his image, and the older lover reportedly tried to have Tiger's baby without his knowledge. Rogers is rumored to be securing a secret payment to ensure her silence.
Tiger Woods' mother has hit out at her son, saying she is 'angry and disappointed' with him, according to a family friend.
However, Kultida Woods has vowed to stand by her 33-year-old son, despite being 'furious' over his infidelity.
'[She] is hurt, angry and disappointed in Tiger,' the friend told People magazine.
'She wants to know how he could do this to his family.'
But, despite reportedly dealing with infidelity in her own marriage, 65-year-old Kultida is trying to forgive her son, according to the source.
'She loves him and will support him through anything, but she needs some time to work through this.'
'It was devastating to her. She likes Elin, and adores her grandchildren.
'She's worried about them. She doesn't want to see them hurt,' said the family friend.
Woods' father, Earl Woods, who died from prostate cancer a couple of years ago, was allegedly unfaithful to Thai-born Kultida several years ago.
The golfer was said to have been 'devastated' when he learned of his father's infidelity.
Kultida's anger comes as Elin Woods prepares for divorce and a custody battle over her and Woods' two young children, Sam, two, and Charlie, ten months.
Woods is thought to have cheated on Elin with up to 14 mistresses.
It is reported the ex-model had been prepared to discuss joint custody arrangements with Woods, but his refusal to see a doctor for his reported sex addiction has prompted Elin, 29, to limit his involvement in the children's lives.
One of Elin's close friends told the Sunday Mirror: 'She can't believe Tiger's behaviour. He says he wants to save the marriage, but he's not doing anything about it.
'He's hiding out like a child and refusing to go to rehab to get the treatment he needs. She's so mad at him, she's flipping out.
Everyone wants Tiger to get treatment and going down that road was his only real chance of delaying the divorce, but he wouldn't even sit through therapy.
'Elin has had enough now,' the friend told the newspaper. 'She's made up her mind that she's going for custody.'
It is reported that Elin will instruct her lawyer, legendary Hollywood divorce specialist Sorrell Trope, to fight for half of Woods' £340million fortune along with full custody of the children.
But legal experts told the Sunday Mirror Elin is unlikely to win full custody as Woods' home state of Florida is 'dad-friendly' and his serial cheating would not count unless Elin can prove his behaviour made him 'a detriment' to his children.
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