What week it's been for Rep. Charles Rangel. He's gone from being found guilty of violating rules by the House Ethics panel and defiantly announcing he would run for a 21st term in Congress to "temporarily" stepping down from his position at House Ways and Means Committee chair. And now it seems that Rangel may not run for another term after all!
Sure, Rangel kept insisting yesterday he's good to run this year, but the NY Times reports, "A person who has spoken with the congressman about his political future over the past few days said that if he did not regain control of the committee, an unlikely prospect in a tough election year for Congressional Democrats, he would consider dropping out of the race." The source said, "He would have to take a really hard look at the race." (And the Times looks at some who may consider filling Rangel's shoes: State Senator Bill Perkins, former Rangel staffer-turned-banker Vince Morgan, and Assemblymen Daniel O'Donnell and Keith Wright.)
In the Daily News' analysis, Rangel is compared to Richard Nixon. While Rangel isn't under criminal investigation, "There's this similarity between the Harlem legend and the Watergate-tainted President: They did themselves in." One Democratic powerbroker, referring to Rangel's protestations that his tax amnesia was his wife's fault and that his rule-breaking Caribbean junket trip was his staff's fault, says, "When you're chairman of Ways and Means, you've got to understand the rules because you write the rules. When you send your boss on a trip, the boss has to make sure it's legit. Ultimately, it's his responsibility."
