01 Mar 2010 Did Charles Rangel Vote for Sarbanes-Oxley?

Yes, on July 25, 2002, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) voted to agree to the conference report for the Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act, better known as Sarbanes-Oxley.

If you just came back from a deserted island, Rep. Rangel has been admonished by the House Ethics Committee for breaking House rules regarding corporate sponsorship of Congressional travel; Rep. Rangel’s defense is that he didn’t know corporations paid for his travel, his staff did, and he shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of his Congressional staff.

Under Sarbanes-Oxley, corporate CEOs can be held criminally responsible for signing false reports, including reports prepared by staff (as most are).

Regardless of the double-standard Rangel seeks to hide behind, Peter Flaherty of the National Legal and Policy Center — which broke the Rangel scandal in the first place and is still the best source of information on it — says it simply is not credible that Rangel didn’t know he was violating House rules by accepting direct corporate support for his travel.

Go here to visit the National Legal and Policy Center’s website, which shows pictures of Charlie Rangel at the Caribbean conference, facing a sign listing the conference’s many corporate sponsors.

Perhaps next the Congressman will claim he cannot read?

In related Charlie Rangel-scandal news, House Democrats are increasingly pressuring House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to ask Rangel to step down from his post as chairman of the uber-powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

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