Weiner told them that he would not make a move until his wife Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, returned from her trip to Africa and the Middle East with Clinton. Abedin is expected back on Wednesday.

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Anthony Weiner does not intend to resign right away, but is apparently seeking a leave of absence from Congress to attend sex rehab.  It looks like calls to resign from Nancy Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman Schultz were not persuasive to him.  If Pelosi isn’t enough, we can think of only one Democrat leader who could put a stop to this saga now: Barack Obama.  The President has been radio-silent on this issue thus far.  It might be time for him to offer his sage wisdom.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Rep. Anthony Weiner is asking for a temporary leave of absence from the House while he seeks professional treatment in the wake of his Twitter scandal.

A spokeswoman for the New York Democrat says he has left for professional treatment and will focus on “becoming a better husband and healthier person.”

Spokeswoman Risa Heller says Weiner wants the leave of absence so he can be evaluated and work out a course of treatment.

The statement doesn’t say what Weiner would be treated for.

Just before the statement, leading Democrats demanded that Weiner step down.

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Reticent no longer, the Democratic Party hierarchy demanded on Saturday that Rep. Anthony Weiner resign for sending online material ranging from sexually suggestive to explicit to several women.

“This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the party chairwoman, said in a written statement calling for the New York lawmaker to quit.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, said Weiner “has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents and the recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a member of Congress.”

Weiner had no immediate reaction.

Before Saturday afternoon’s developments, Weiner told reporters in his neighborhood that “I have to redeem myself and I am going to try to get back to work.”

Weiner said his conduct involved “personal failings” and that he would try not to let them get in the way of his “professional work.”

Wasserman Schultz, Pelosi and others party leaders made their demands one day after Weiner acknowledged that he had exchanged online messages with a Delaware teenager. He said the exchanges involved nothing inappropriate.

His party’s leadership had refrained from demanding a resignation for days after Weiner admitted sending lewd photos and messages and at least one X-rated picture to a handful of women around the country over the past three years and then lying about it.

Weiner is married to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Abedin is pregnant with the couple’s first child. She is traveling with Clinton in Africa until the middle of next week.

A recent poll of registered voters in Weiner’s New York City district found that 56 percent said he should stay in office while 33 percent said he should leave.

Pelosi has asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether Weiner used any government resources. He has said he does not believe he did.

Before Saturday’s developments, at least nine House members and three senators said Weiner should resign.

He has repeatedly said he would not.

Weiner said earlier Saturday that his wife “is doing well” and that she “is a remarkable woman who is working very hard.”

If we are to look at what happened to Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) last week as a guide, the answer is “yes” and “no.”

At the beginning of last week, it looked like Rangel might finally get his comeuppance. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct (commonly known as the House Ethics Committee) convicted Rangel on a series of corruption charges that “brought discredit to the House.” As reported in The Hill and many other press outlets, Rangel was convicted by a House Ethics panel on 11 counts of violating ethics rules.

The convictions are serious and demonstrate a serial tendency on the part of Rangel to abuse his congressional office for personal gain.

You can read the official report from the House Ethics Committee here. The following is a summary of what the committee said Rangel did wrong:

• Rangel, who you may recall was formerly in charge of writing our nation’s tax policies, “forgot” to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income he earned from his off-shore rental property.
• Rangel misused his congressional office, staff and resources to raise money for his private Rangel Center for Public Service to be housed the City College of New York. (He also put the squeeze on donors with business before his House Ways and Means Committee and used the congressional “free mail” privilege to solicit funds.)
• Rangel misused his residentially-zoned Harlem apartment as a campaign headquarters.
• Rangel failed to report $600,000 in income on his official congressional financial disclosure reports, which contained “numerous errors and omissions.”

It is worth noting that the Committee did not consider other serious corruption charges against Rangel. For example, it has been alleged that Rangel preserved a tax loophole for an oil company in exchange for a Rangel Center donation. The Committee also did not consider the charge that Rangel used improper influence to maintain ownership of his highly coveted rent-controlled apartment – the same apartment he improperly used for campaign activities. The list goes on and on.

And so, what do you do with a congressman who so flagrantly violated ethics rules – 11 times over? Expel him from Congress? Well that’s what Judicial Watch pushed for in a statement issued to the press last Wednesday.

Following a sanctions hearing, the full Ethics Committee, by vote of 9-1 recommended “censure” for Rangel, not expulsion. According to The Washington Post: “Censure, which is just below expulsion, is the second most serious punishment the House can impose on a member. The recommendation will next go to the full chamber, which will probably vote the week after Thanksgiving and is expected to endorse the committee’s decision.”

Some will try to play up the seriousness of the censure resolution, but it carries with it no tangible consequence for Rangel. I’ll put it this way. Censure was the punishment Bill Clinton was hoping to get from the House for the Monica Lewinsky [obstruction of justice and perjury] scandal. Instead the House voted to impeach. And if the Senate had the courage to follow suit, he would have been tossed from office.

As this is Washington, politicians of both parties will pretend that censure is a serious punishment. But it is a “punishment” that simply requires Rangel to come to the well of the House and hear a disapproving statement read by lame-duck Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the real world, you get fired or thrown in jail for abusing your office and not paying your taxes.

Let me give you further context: The last time the House censured anyone was in 1983, when two congressmen (a Republican and Democrat) were censured for having sexual relationships with teenaged House pages. It seems that unless one is convicted of a crime, one can do anything as a congressman and not be thrown out of the House!

The fact that the House has so rarely resorted to censure is more indicative of the lack of seriousness about ethics in Congress than of the so-called severity of the censure punishment.

The full House should reject the Ethics Committee’s recommendation and expel Rangel from the House of Representatives.

This is a test for the incoming Republican leadership on whether it understands voters’ concerns about corruption in Congress.

Please call your congressman to let them know how you feel about the punishment that Rangel ought to face. You can reach the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

A House investigative panel has charged California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters with violating ethics rules.

Waters, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, would face a trial in the fall unless she negotiates a settlement.

If the case goes to trial, Democrats would have the political headache of two ethics trials—one for Waters and another for Rep. Charles Rangel of New York.

The specific charges against Waters were not made public in the announcement Monday from the House ethics committee.

Waters has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving her assistance to a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the bank and had served on its board.

Original article here. As Brian says, “Stay Tuned.”

Democratic leaders and major party donors plan to hold a lavish 80th birthday gala for Charles Rangel at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan next month, despite 13 ethics charges pending against the veteran lawmaker.

Lobbyists and other party donors received invitations this week to join Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and New York Gov. David Paterson at one of New York’s finest hotels to celebrate Rangel’s birthday.

Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are also listed as featured guests, according to an invitation viewed by The Hill.

Some potential guests received the invitation a day after the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct issued a report accusing Rangel of multiple ethics violations.

While some Democrats think Rangel has become politically radioactive in Washington, the invitation lists a variety of enticements to get people to show up to his birthday bash and contribute to his campaign.

Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” will serenade them and guests who pony up $200, $500, $1,000 or $2,500 for tickets. The funds will go to the Rangel Victory Fund, a campaign account.

The 2010 Rangel Birthday Gala is planned for August 11th despite the fact that Rangel’s actual birthday is June 11th.

Read the whole thing here. Read that last sentence again.

New York Congressman Charles Rangel has reportedly cut a deal to admit to ethical wrongdoing and avoid a potentially humiliating public trial.

Harlem friends of Rangel tell CBS 2 they have been told that the details could be unveiled when the House Ethics Committee meets Thursday afternoon.

“Sixty years ago I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea and as a result I wrote a book saying that I hadn’t had a bad day since,” Rangel said. “Today I have to reassess that statement.” In a sense, Thursday is Charlie Rangel’s war. He is battling to preserve his legacy of 40 years of congressional service in the face of ethics charges that, at the very least, will subject him to a humiliating process of having to admit ethical wrong doing.

Just what he will admit to and how he will do it remains to be seen. The punishment remains to be seen as well, but sources tell CBS 2 that at the end of the day, Rangel is not expected to be thrown out of Congress and that he is expected to run for reelection to a 21st term.

Earlier in the week, he told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer that he feels his constituents will forgive him for anything that happens in the midst of the scandal.

“I’m confident that I’m going to win reelection,” he said.

Continue reading here.

Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel (N.Y.) is headed for more trouble as the House ethics committee announced Thursday it has expanded its investigation to include Rangel’s financial disclosure reports, which show hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously undeclared personal assets and income.

The growing investigation comes as Rangel continues to fight off Republican attempts to oust him from his chairmanship – the House voted largely along party lines on Wednesday to allow Rangel to keep his gavel while the ethics panel continues its months-long probe of the Harlem Democrat.

The ethics panel also disclosed Thursday that it has issued nearly 150 subpoenas as part of its year-long Rangel investigation, interviewed 34 witnesses and combed through thousands of pages of documents related to the New York Democrat’s personal finances. The vote to widen the already sprawling investigation was unanimous.

In July, Rangel quietly filed amended financial disclosure documents, going back to 2001, showing at least $600,000 in assets that he had never previously declared.

Read the whole thing here:

October 7th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned members of the House for voting to refer a resolution that would have removed Congressman Charlie Rangel as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

“Once again, the Democrat-controlled House has voted to sweep outright corruption under the rug on behalf of a fellow party member who failed to report more than $1 million in outside income as required by House rules,” Wilson said.

“The least Congress can do is not have Rangel serving as Chairman of a committee that deals with taxes while an ‘ongoing’ ethics probe into his undisclosed income is taking place,” Wilson added.

The Resolution, proposed by Congressman John Carter, called for Rangel to be removed as Ways and Means Chairman until the Ethics Committee concludes its probe.

Instead, the House voted 246 to 153 to refer the resolution to the Ethics Committee. “A vote to refer the Rangel resolution to the Ethics Committee was a vote against the resolution, plain and simple,” said Wilson.

Rangel is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, but Wilson stated that the committee may be deliberately stalling, writing in a letter last month to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, “[T]he Ethics Committee — comprised of some of Mr. Rangel’s most ardent apologists — has clearly decided to turn its ‘internal investigation’ into an ‘eternal investigation.’ And justice delayed has long since become justice denied.”

According CBS’ Marcia Kramer, Rangel may have gone as far to “influence” members of the Ethics Committee to look the other way: “CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.

The report continues, “Charlie’s ‘angels’ on the committee include Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Peter Welch of Vermont. All have received donations from Rangel.”

“The House Ethics Committee is a joke. And despite months of inquiry into known and blatant infractions of law and House rules, no action has been taken,” Wilson said, comparing the delay to the speed that Congressman Joe Wilson had a resolution brought against him for shouting “You lie!” at Barack Obama during a joint session of Congress. On September 15th, the House voted 240-179 in a resolution against Congressman Wilson, just six days after the speech.

Wilson cited several transgressions that he said could have already been acted upon by the House at large:

1) failure to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House,

2) failure to disclose at least $650,000 in assets he had previously failed to list on his House financial disclosure forms,

3) failure to disclose to the IRS or on his financial disclosure forms $75,000 in rental income for a beach villa in the Dominican Republic,

4) violation of state laws by claiming three primary residences and broke municipal laws by maintaining four rent-controlled apartments,

5) violation of House rules by using congressional letterhead to solicit donations for an education center bearing his name at City College of New York, and

6) delinquency in paying his property taxes on two New Jersey parcels and failure to report the sale of a $1.3 million brownstone.

“There was no reason why these repeated violations could not have been addressed today by the House,” said Wilson

Americans for Limited Government recently a petition website, RangelOutNow.org, to encourage Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately investigate Rangel’s “repeated violation of public disclosure laws… [and] exactly how Mr. Rangel came into at least $650,000 in undisclosed income, and to audit the extent of his income.”

Wilson also called upon Holder to “prosecute Mr. Rangel to the fullest extent of the law for any and all infractions of the law.”

Said Wilson, “This is completely upside down. The Ethics Committee is supposed to act on a non-partisan basis. But instead, it is stonewalling the conclusion of the Rangel investigation. And now the House majority has made it clear that no matter what the ethics probe produces, they will do nothing to remove Rangel from his powerful chairmanship. Nancy Pelosi is encouraging the culture of corruption in Washington to blossom.”

Attachments:
ALG President Bill Wilson Letter to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, September 16th, 2009.

“The Man Who Knew Too Little,” by Carter Clews, August 31st, 2009.

Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.

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