Poster Child For Term Limits – Congressman Charlie Rangel [OPINION]

If Congressman Charlie Rangel is not the poster child for term limits the Sun doesn't rise in the East and set in the West. More than 40 years in Congress, a 22 term incumbent with Congressional sanctions for numerous antics and he won re-election with 47 per cent of the vote.

I think the 47 percent of the people who voted for him this time are not 'low information voters' but people who like to see someone get away with something. Those voters don't care if Rangel got political contributions from his landlord...a landlord that rents Rangel a group of apartments below-market rates. Those voters don't care that Rangel parked his Mercedes in a House parking garage as free storage space worth $290 a month which he did not mention on his income tax returns. Those voters don't care that Rangel failed to pay taxes on the rental of villa he owns in the Dominican Republic...taxes to the tune of $75,000. Those voters don't care that large campaign contributors received number favors from Rangel. Those voters don't seem to care that Rangel 'forgot' to pay property taxes on two of his New Jersey properties, he may have thought they were foreign properties.

More ethics violations than you can shake a stick at! More ethics violations than fleas on a homeless dog but people keep voting for the man! He has been protected by so many in Congress, so many times in is unconscionable. That 47 per cent who voted for him think a lot like people who still support former Governor Edwin Edwards. It's that 'he put one over on the government' thinking that keeps people like Rangel in office and feeding at the public trough.

It's time we pass term limits to keep people from thinking they are invincible and immune from the laws they pass to control the people. Sanctions from Congress and contempt of Congress citations don't mean a thing if they don't have bite behind the bark.

If you can't get the job done in a limited amount of time like 6 or 12 years get out and let competent people take your seat.