Rangel said last night at a news conference that “common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or errors of staff unless there’s reason to believe that member knew or should have known, and there is nothing in the record to indicate the latter.”

Later:

While Rangel said he relied on information from the House Ethics Committee in deciding to attend the Carribean trips, the ethics committee says that Rangel’s aides tried at least three times to show him his trips had corporate sponsors, the Associated Press reports.

Rangel reportedly denies seeing any of these written communications, which included two staff memos sent to him in 2008 and a letter addressed to him in 2007. The committee’s report says investigators could not determine whether or not Rangel actually saw them.

What a joke Rangel is. The main focus of the article is that Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) is backing Rangel, and that’s even more of a joke. The Speaker has the gall to say that she is running the “most ethical and honest Congress in history.” This is despite, according to USA TODAY in January, the fact that no Member of Congress has been punished for wrongdoing, though many accusations of various wrongdoings have been lodged. Let’s keep draining the swamp, America.

Of course, once the Republican inevitably start being this corrupt…let’s switch back to Democrats or independent candidates. A high turnover rate is a great way to keep Members of Congress a) honest, and b) from getting too powerful. It also indicates an electorate that pays attention to what’s going on in the halls of power.