The latest nanotechnology keeps food fresh longer, saves
you money and it's good for you and the environment.
http://pd.gophercentral.com/u/1091/c/186/a/3289
------------------------------------------------------------
THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - November 18, 2010
Charles Rangel: What Did He Gain by Walking Out of His
Ethics Trial?
by: Peter Grier
The Christian Science Monitor
Charles Rangel walked out of his congressional ethics trial
in protest on Monday. Why did he refuse to defend himself?
After all, if the House eventually condemns him (or worse)
over alleged financial and fund-raising misconduct, the
New York Democrat's reputation will be irretrievably
tarnished.
Congressman Rangel said he was leaving the proceedings
because he was being treated unfairly. In a statement
issued Monday afternoon, he charged that the ethics
subcommittee holding the trial had provided him with its
80-page document of charges and evidence only seven days
ago. One week was not enough time to prepare a defense,
Rangel said ? particularly because he no longer has a
team of defense lawyers.
"How was I supposed to deal with this when I received it
just days before the hearing without an attorney by my
side?" said Rangel in his statement.
The ethics panel denied Rangel's appeal to delay the trial
while he set up a legal defense fund and hired a new legal
team. His former attorneys withdrew from the case in
October after he ran out of money to pay them, according
to Rangel.
Ethics panel members told Rangel that they needed to
forge ahead because there is little time left in the
congressional session, he charged. In Rangel's view
this means he is being deprived of due process rights
because other members do not want his case to infringe
on their holiday vacations.
"The committee has deprived me of the fundamental right
to counsel and has chosen to proceed as if it is fair
and impartial and operating according to rules, when in
reality they are depriving me of my rights," Rangel said
in his statement.
What Rangel did not say, but may believe, is that by
refusing to defend himself he may in the future be able
to depict as illegitimate any findings of guilt by the
ethics panel.
But on Monday the Ethics Committee chief counsel and some
members of the eight-person bipartisan subcommittee hear-
ing the Rangel evidence appeared exasperated by Rangel's
behavior.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) of California, chair of the ethics
trial, noted that Rangel had sought and received Ethics
Committee guidance on setting up a legal defense fund to
pay his attorneys as far back as September of 2008, yet
never set up such a fund.
In addition, the particulars of the charges against Rangel
have been known for years, meaning a team of attorneys
would have had ample time to prepare a defense prior to
now. Ethics Committee chief counsel Blake Chisam, acting
as prosecutor at Monday's proceedings, told the panel's
four Republicans and four Democrats that there is little
dispute "as to any material facts in this case. As a
result the case is ripe for a decision."
In outlining the charges, Mr. Chisam said that among other
things Rangel has improperly sent out over 100 letters on
his congressional letterhead soliciting $30 million for a
Rangel Center for Public Service to be located at City
College of New York. Taxpayer-funded staff helped produce
and track this fund-raising effort.
In addition, for over 17 years Rangel failed to declare
on his federal income tax returns rental income earned
by his beach villa in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Asked whether he believed Rangel was in fact corrupt,
Chisam said "I do not. I believe that the congressman,
quite frankly, was overzealous in many of the things
that he did, and at least sloppy in his financial ? his
personal finances."
Some outside observers said that in the lengthy proceed-
ings of the Rangel ethics case there is indeed lots of
blame to go around.
"Mr. Rangel has a legitimate complaint when he says that
the Ethics Committee investigation into his conduct ? now
two years old ? has gone on far too long," said Bob Edgar,
president of the nonpartisan citizen advocacy group Common
Cause. "Rangel himself bears much of the responsibility
for delays in concluding the matter however, and his
partisan opponents appear to have further stalled the
proceedings."
------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR VIDEO SNACK BAR
Top Viewed Videos...
1. All the Single Babies
http://c.gophercentral.com/Icgl
2. Celebrities: Before and After Make-Up
http://c.gophercentral.com/lhPb
3. Amos N´ Andy - In the IRS Office
http://c.gophercentral.com/DVhQ
4. The D-Day Invasion
http://c.gophercentral.com/DDAx
5. The Spanish Civil War
http://c.gophercentral.com/3K42
6. The Human Slinky
http://c.gophercentral.com/Wwa9
------------------------------------------------------------
Follow Your Favorite GopherCentral Publications on Twitter:
http://www.gophertweets.com/ More Coming Soon!
------------------------------------------------------------