[A version of this article appeared in print on October 9, 2009, on page A30 of the New York edition.]
New York Times/Editorials
October 8, 2009
It is time for Democrats in Congress — who once justifiably complained about the corruption of the Republican majority — to demonstrate to Americans that someone in that august body has ethical standards.
Instead, House Democrats have again shielded Representative Charles Rangel from his serial ethical messes and ducked their responsibility to force him from the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, maintaining her tunnel vision on behalf of a powerful colleague, led the majority to defeat the Republicans’ latest call to depose the New York lawmaker. She does the nation no favor.
Two of her Democrats broke ranks and voted against Mr. Rangel, but far more need to face up to the obvious: the chairman’s gavel weighs increasingly like a millstone as new disclosures surface about Mr. Rangel’s ethical gaffes and official misdeeds.
The op-ed continues here.
