Ah, New York, New York: the Rangel and Paterson scandals

July 30, 2010 at 2:46pm

It is just getting to be too much.

As the House of Representatives Ethics Committee rolls out the list of charges against Harlem's Charlie Rangel, our governor, embroiled in his own scandal, declares that he has now been "exonerated."

I was surprised that New York State's former top judge, Judith Kaye, decided that there weren't grounds for filing criminal charges against Paterson. Kaye has been a highly respected judge, and she reviewed material that we haven't, so maybe she's right.

Still, a scandal is a scandal, with or without criminal charges. A woman was trying to file assault charges against a top aide to Governor Paterson, and Paterson himself called the woman to talk about it. Paterson has insisted that he wasn't trying to interfere, but he's no dummy. He had to know that it was inappropriate for him to call her at all, and the fact that he has championed women's rights in domestic violence cases just makes it worse. He knows that those kinds of phone calls are intimidating no matter who they come from. A call from the governor about his close friend and aide? What on earth was Paterson thinking? How did he think the woman would feel?

The Rangel mess is equally mystifying. Maybe he'll be able to convince the Ethics Committee that he did nothing wrong, but the charges are just damning: failure to pay taxes, getting rent-stabilized apartments, soliciting donations to a favored school from a businessman who was trying to get a tax break from Rangel's House committee. A bright, dedicated member of Congress, a man who has done a world of good for his district, has put his legacy and his public-service future in jeopardy.

What was he thinking?

Paterson's action, a Times editorial said this morning, is just another example of the governor's "haphazard way of governing." I'm not sure what Rangel's is an example of.

But both simply feed the distrust the public has for government officials - and their disgust with government.

And that erodes public support for government involvement in many of the causes dear to both Paterson and Rangel.

Comments for "Ah, New York, New York: the Rangel and Paterson scandals" (3)

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hiwayman17 said on Jul. 31, 2010 at 10:31am

Speaking of ethics and looking closer to home, one only needs to look at the Daniele family. This week the Daniele family sent out an email blast to restaurant patrons offering a $25 gift card to people who showed up at a Brighton zoning board and spoke on behalf of a car wash the Daniele's want to build.

Are there any serious ethics violations going on here seeing that Anthony Daniele is a Monroe County legislator?? I have a feeling that the family opened the Crab Shack so that when someone said "Something smells fishy", the family could simply say, it's our new restaurant.

Tom Janowski said on Jul. 31, 2010 at 10:38am

What get's me is all this talk about Rangel being about to "make a deal". Why do we allow elected representatives with ethics violations to make deals? Why is that even an option.

Was deal making always a part of Nancy Pelosi's plan to "drain the swamp"?

Sadly, I think Rangel should become the poster person for term limits. Both Congress and Senate should be limited to two terms...perhaps lengthen the Congressional term to 4 years instead of 2. But term limits would bring some freshness to Congress that is obviously missing. When you're around as long as Rangel, it seems things are taken for granted...as if seniority allows one to make some serious mistakes without consequences.

Daniel said on Aug. 02, 2010 at 5:59pm

"The Rangel mess is equally mystifying." "What was he thinking?"..... Please, he was thinking he could get away with pocketing undisclosed income. He's the epitome of a hypocrisy. There's nothing mystifying about it. He's passes laws to raise our taxes and then he doesn't pay his. Just like Maxine Waters, he's another slimy Democrat that should go down. At 82 years of age, he certainly won't be ending his long career in politics with dignity. See you at the polls suckas... I'll be sure to vote every Progressive i.e. Democrat, right out on their butt. They've done enough damage.

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