If you’re not familiar with that French expression, it means “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” And, in Washington, in the
hallowed halls of our “representative” government, they stay the same. Despite promise of change, politicians -of both parties- just don’t seem to get it. They revert to the same behaviors until the citizenry that elected them wakes up and throws them out. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen nearly often enough.
It has not happened in the case of Charlie Rangel (D-NY). Despite the fact that he breaks the very laws his committee writes, his subjects in NY continue to re-elect him. So, even thought the House voted 333-79 to censure Rangel last December for rules violations related to unpaid taxes on a condo in the Dominican Republic, this week they “honored” him with an official portrait for his service as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
I guess if you serve for a long time -however ignominiously- in the Congress, you get a portrait. What’s worse than that? Rangel asked the Federal Election Committee for permission to use campaign funds to pay for the portrait, which cost $64,000. Dang, that’s an expensive picture.
