Draining the Swamp, Remember?

Fox’s SPECIAL REPORT last night:

Six members of the Congressional Black Caucus may have violated House ethics rules by attending a three-day conference paid for by a number of powerful corporations early last month on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin.

The New York Post reports House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel and others enjoyed free airfare, meals, and hotel rooms — at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino — funded by donations from corporations such as IBM, AT&T, and recently bailed out CitiGroup.

House ethics rules state members of Congress cannot accept multi-day trips from a corporation that employs or retains a registered lobbyist. Members are also required to seek prior written permission to take free multi-day trips and file reports listing all financial sponsors within two weeks of each trip.

The Post writes that it could only find filings for New Jersey Democrat Donald Payne. However, Payne failed to list any of the corporations that funded the trip. A spokeswoman for Payne told the Post, “It was our understanding that the trip was sponsored by the Carib News Foundation. We are unaware of any corporate sponsors.”

Carib News is listed as the conference organizer, but the group pays for the event through corporate donations and The Post reports officials with the sponsoring companies not only attended all of the conference events, but some were featured speakers at daily seminars.

Coutesy The Buffalo Bean

Rangel could have been working on his beach body for that Caribbean conference by exercising in his semi-secret personal gym inside the Capitol. The Post says Rangel’s workout room holds a flat-screen TV, exercise machine, mirror, mini-fridge and a telephone. He was seen locking up the room one afternoon this fall when Congress was in session to address the financial crisis. The makeshift gym is steps away from Rangel’s suite of offices.

The room is officially listed as belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rangel’s spokesman told the Post he couldn’t shed any light on the situation saying, “I don’t know anything about how he uses that room.”

So, instead of draining the swamp, Democrats just made it larger. Good job, Nancy. And one can;t help the feeling this isn’t the only example… or even the worst of it.
(Cartoon from The Buffalo Bean, just down the road from me here.)