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I’m All for Upholding the Constitution, but Only When It’s Stuff That’s Really in the Constitution

Paula | October 7, 2009 | Comments (1)

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher was one of only three House Republicans to vote against removing tax cheat Charlie Rangel from his position as head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He defended his position thusly:

Tom Delay and others had their careers destroyed because of accusations and not convictions of wrongdoing. Whether it’s Charlie Rangel or Tom Delay or Joe McDade (who had to give up a lifetime of seniority because he was indicted by a politically-motivated prosecutor. . . later to be found totally innocent of all charges, but the damage was done, his career was over), they should not be punished until they are found guilty of a crime. Punishing a leader who has only been accused of wrongdoing (not convicted) is a great injustice and does not serve our country well….

I was elected to uphold the U.S. Constitution and that’s what I aim to do, whether it’s politically expedient or not. As patriots, we should be paying more attention to the U.S. Constitution rather than a politically-motivated lynch mob.

I’m calling bull on that.

I’ve got my pocket Constitution handy and I’m frantically trying to find the clause that covers committee chairmanships but, oh, wait! There isn’t anything! And Rohrabacher’s contention that Rangel deserves the benefit of the doubt – to be considered innocent until proven guilty – doesn’t apply. Rangel has admitted under-reporting his income (Side note: Men, when accused of a crime, blaming your wife doesn’t enhance your manly image) and the House of Representatives isn’t a court of law. Don’t you think that such an admission should be enough to disqualify him from the chairmanship of just about any committee, but especially the one that’s responsible for, oh, say, writing tax laws?

In addition to that, it seems to me that House members have a responsibility to maintain the integrity of the House. Now regardless what you think about the current state of the House and their integrity or lack thereof, public trust in the institutions of government is wavering if, indeed, it is not already irretrievably lost. Removing a confessed tax cheat as the head of such a powerful committee would signal concerned citizens that, yes, we understand who we are here to serve; we place your interests above internal politics.

That any Republicans voted against this resolution is a disgrace and Congressman Rohrabacher’s holier-than-thou attempt to hide behind the Constitution is contemptible.