This Washington
WA Reps. McDermott and Smith in Small Minority Against Rangel Censure
The U.S. House of Representatives voted to censure U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) for ethics violations today ranging from failure to disclose his finances to failure to pay taxes. Getting censured is just one step shy of getting expelled from Congress. Only 22 members—including two members who were censured in 1983 for improper, um, contact with congressional pages—have been censured before.
Why is this newsworthy on PubliCola? Because two of the dissenting votes in the lopsided 333-79 vote were from the Washington State delegation—U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA, 7 Seattle) and Adam Smith (D-WA, 9, Sea-Tac, Federal Way, Fort Lewis, Yelm) voted No.
We have calls in to both reps.
The rest of the delegation—with the exception of U.S. Rep. Cathy Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5, Eastern Washington), who is out because she just had a baby—voted to censure Rangel, 80, who rose to prominence during the civil rights era.
Why is this newsworthy on PubliCola? Because two of the dissenting votes in the lopsided 333-79 vote were from the Washington State delegation—U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott (D-WA, 7 Seattle) and Adam Smith (D-WA, 9, Sea-Tac, Federal Way, Fort Lewis, Yelm) voted No.
We have calls in to both reps.
The rest of the delegation—with the exception of U.S. Rep. Cathy Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-5, Eastern Washington), who is out because she just had a baby—voted to censure Rangel, 80, who rose to prominence during the civil rights era.
