This should come as no surprise to anyone with a basic understanding of politics, but House Democrats are postponing pre-election ethics trials for two Democratic House members and Republicans are not happy about it
Reps. Maxine Waters of California and Charlie Rangel of New York both faced charges they violated the rules of the House in separate cases that were scheduled to be adjudicated in public hearings some time in September.
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But with adjournment looming, it’s unlikely that their face hearings before the November election.
So ethics committee ranking member Jo Bonner, R-Ala., and the four other Republicans on the ethics panel released a letter Tuesday calling for the two trials to commence and called on Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to “stop stalling” the proceedings.
Under the House rules, it’s up to Lofgren to schedule the two trials.
“The Chairwoman has repeatedly refused to set either the Rangel or Waters trial before the November election,” the GOP letter states. “While we regret that the committee has not worked together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the transparent and fair resolution of these matters to date, we look forward to working with the chairwoman in a bipartisan manner to accomplish this – and other important unfinished committee business – in the coming weeks.”
Congress may adjourn for fall campaigning as early as this week.
Rangel, the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is accused of failing to pay taxes and using his office to secure donations to a school named after him. Waters is accused of using her position on the House Financial Services Committee to help secure federal bailout money for a bank in which her husband, a bank board member, had invested.
Both Waters and Rangel are expected to win re-election easily.
