Does Pelosi stand for anything?

I know on most issues she’s a diehard leftwing idealogue who does her best to please her ultra liberal SF base, but Charlie Rangel is a big time tax cheat who has no place sitting atop the House Ways and Means Committee, yet The Hill reports today that he will retain his position, because Pelosi’s not interested in pursuing the issue:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will let Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) keep his chairmanship despite his failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms, according to Democratic aides.

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s latest misstep has received strong media scrutiny and prompted good-government watchdog groups to call for a special counsel investigation.

Growing ethical turmoil surrounding Rangel has prompted calls for Pelosi to yank Rangel’s gavel. Rep. Darrel Issa (R-Calif.) on Wednesday called on Rangel to release his tax returns. He also said Democratic leaders should yank Rangel’s Ways and Means chairmanship if he refuses or if the returns show tax reporting violations.

“There’s enough [failures to disclose assets] that it’s starting to look more like a pattern…the public has a right to know if he pays his taxes and if he has a pattern of not paying his taxes,” Issa said in an interview with The Hill. “If he failed to file his taxes in any of these circumstances, he should not be allowed to be the chairman of the tax-writing committee.”

The article mentioned several reasons why she may be holding her fire, the chief reason – according to The Hill – was she didn’t want to be seen as stepping on the toes of the Ethics Committee and “setting a bad precedent” in the process. But I think we all know the bigger reason here is the racial/reliable Dem vote angle. I mean – think about it: she’s never had an issue declaring GOP House members guilty of something before any ethics committee investigations, so why is she so hesitant now?

Lawhawk sums up:

No, Pelosi is keeping Rangel on as lifeguard of the cesspool of scandal. You see, he’s a reliable vote and she knows that he’ll see the agenda through, regardless of the dings he’s taking from his failure to adhere to the very laws that his committee has written over the years.

She’s got her flacks out claiming that they wont take action until the House Ethics Committee reports, but this is the same person who did nothing against fellow Democrat William Jefferson when he was found with $90,000 in bribes stuck in his freezer. She wants people to think that she’ll take action if and when the committee reports or a prosecutor brings charges.

Given that the ethics committee isn’t likely to bring charges anytime soon, and they’re still busy considering only the tip of the iceberg – the rent stabilization racket Rangel ran (being one of several items), it’s all too likely that he’ll get a slap on the wrist for something that would have sent many others to jail.

Make sure to read his post in full for the Rangel’s lengthy list of legal issues.

Rangel’s the poster child for the Culture of Corruption Pelosi used to talk about so much. I guess, though, in her world the only corruptocrats who need to be “drained from the swamp” are those who are members of the opposition party.

Oh, the stench of outright hypocrisy …