Whatever Happened To?

Remember that ethics investigation of Charles Rangel that was supposed to be completed by early January?  Don’t look now, but it’s late January and nothing is happening.  According to an article in today’s New York Post:

“The panel created on Sept. 24 to probe the Harlem Democrat’s alleged ethical lapses has been virtually disbanded, after meeting only twice in four months on the matter, The Post has learned.

Of the four congressmen named to look into the powerful Ways and Means Committee chairman, only one remains – Alabama Republican Jo Bonner. The three others left the Rangel probe last month when they were “rotated” off the 10-member Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.”

The investigation is currently inactive and won’t become active until three incoming committee members are assigned to it later this month (they don’t have much month left).  Congressman Rangel is charged with income tax evasion, failing to report income on his financial disclosure statements and various other financial missteps.  Since the Democrats choose not to deal with this problem, it will be left up to the residents of his district to remove him by voting someone else in.  Unfortunately, that is not going to happen, and there in a nutshell is the problem with Washington–the voters.  If the American voter does not care enough about ethics to vote an unethical congressman out of office, why should the congressman care about ethics?