Rangel & Waters Ethics Trials Coming After Nov
The Hill reports:
Watchdog groups expect the upcoming ethics trials for Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to take place after the November election to avoid political fallout.
“I think ethics hearings shortly before the midterm elections overly politicizes the ethics process, which in the long term, is not in anyone's interest,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The ethics committee, according to its rules, must turn over all evidence it plans to present in a trial to the member charged at least 15 days before the beginning of the trial. Even if the panel handed over their evidence to Rangel and Waters when they return this week, the trial could not begin until the beginning of October, one month before the general election and when members plan to be home to campaign.
Craig Holman of Public Citizen also predicted the adjudicatory hearings would occur when members return for a short lame-duck session. In many ways, though, the prospect of the trials has already become campaign fodder so the damage has been done, he said.
“Both of these pending trials should have been concluded months ago,” he said. “The House ethics committee stumbled miserably in these cases, allowing them to be delayed and delayed, until they have become hot election issues.”
Rangel and Waters, as well as their constituents, deserve a more speedy resolution, Holman argued.
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