“Democratic leaders and major party donors plan to hold a lavish 80th birthday gala for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan next month, despite 13 ethics charges pending against the veteran lawmaker.”
Apparently New York’s U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand plan to attend, as well as New York Gov. David Paterson and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo—Democrats all.
Here is the ethical problem—and it is hardly rocket science. When a public figure’s misdeeds are more prominent in the public’s view than his or her lifetime accomplishments, it is impossible to celebrate the latter without appearing to endorse, support, or other wise fail to show sufficient disapproval of the latter. Thus immediately after the House impeached Bill Clinton for lying to a court and the public about his sexual escapades was not a responsible time for Al Gore to publicly sing his praises, as he did. And thus Nickelodeon was ethically brain-dead for nominating singer Chris Brown and his pop super-star girlfriend Rihanna for 2009 Kid’s Choice Awards shortly after revelations that 1) he had beaten her up, and 2) she was still involved with him. And the Texas Baseball Coaches Association members were out of their ever-lovin’ minds, ethically speaking, when they refused to rescuing their invitation to legendary pitcher Roger Clemens in 2008 to give a keynote speech to young baseball players about his “training methods” in the midst of mounting proof that those methods included anabolic steroids.
As I said, this isn’t rocket science. Still, people keep falling into the trap. Somewhere, someone may be planning a public bash honoring Mel Gibson for his achievements as a film director, because, you know, all that messy domestic abuse and racial epithets stuff have nothing to do with his movies.
Rep. Rangel, as we all know by now, is charged with thirteen serious ethics violations by the House Ethics Committee, and they range from tax evasion to trading legislative favors for personal benefit to unethical fundraising. He has done a lot of good in his career, but Democrats honoring him in the middle of credible corruption allegations cannot avoid being perceived as making a public statement that a pattern of corruption is acceptable as long as you accomplish enough along the way. Maybe that’s what they believe—I fear a disturbingly high percentage of them (and Republicans too) do believe that. If so they are horribly wrong, and it is not a message the public needs or wants.
If there ever was a year for Rep. Rangel to have a nice, quiet, private birthday dinner at home with a few friends, this is it.
Ethics Alarms 