Mystery Resolution Unmasked-- It Was Charlie Rangel Who Was Charged With Dishonoring Himself

The official House site covers up everything about H.Res 143 except the roll call and the ambiguous title Raising a Question of the Privileges of the House, Click on any official links for info and it's all dead ends. What the hell was the vote about? I could see that all Democrats voted "yes" (to table), except 7 who voted "present" and that 157 Republicans voted "no," with 5 voting with the Democrats and 9 voting "present." But on what? What was the question of privilege?

The names of the Republican aisle crossers-- Walter Jones (NC), Peter King (NY), Ron Paul (TX), Dana Rohrabacher (CA), and Don Young (AK)-- didn't provide a clue. Nor did the names of those who voted "present": Gresham Barrett (R-SC), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Jo Bonner (R-AL), Dan Burton (R-IN), GK Butterfield (D-NC), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Ben Chandler (D-KY), Mike Conaway (R-TX), Charlie Dent (R-PA), Gene Green (D-TX), Doc Hastings (R-WA), John Kline (R-MN), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Ted Poe (R-TX), Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Peter Welch (D-VT), who earlier returned $19,000 in campaign donations Charlie Rangel had given him. It seemed like a pretty random group of names, before I remembered that Welch had just been appointed to the House Ethics Committee. Turned out most of those voting "present" were also on that committee.

I called a friend in Congress to ask if the vote was about Rangel. It was. The question was whether or not to table (kill) a motion by far right ideologue John Carter (R-TX) to force Rangel to give up his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee while he's being investigated for corruption. It was tabled, 242-157. Thirteen of the sixteen voting "present" were the ones on the House Ethics committee who have to determine whether or not Rangel broke House ethics rules.

Late last night I saw the NY Times ran a story about the vote... all my detective work for naught!

The ethics committee, formally the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, is looking at Mr. Rangel’s failure to pay taxes on about $75,000 in rental income from a beach house he owns in the Dominican Republic and his use of four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one for a campaign office. Also under scrutiny are letters Mr. Rangel wrote on Congressional stationery looking to find donors for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

The resolution to remove Mr. Rangel as chairman said he “has dishonored himself and brought discredit to the House.”