Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz asks: Where are the Voices of Reform and Accountability Now?

July 24, 2010
For Immediate Release

Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz asks: Where are the Voices of Reform and Accountability Now?

Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz (D-Bronx) released the following statement regarding the upcoming investigation of New York Congressman Charles Rangel.

"We know from published reports that a House Committee offered a deal but Congressman Rangel refused to admit any wrongdoing. The only news coverage so far has been about Rangel saying more or less: "Bring it on, I am ready" - which is his right. Meanwhile, the New York Democratic Party and its Executive Director Charlie King remain silent.

Where are the voices of reform and accountability now?

When the details of the House Ethics Report and charges against Congressman Rangel are released next week, can we expect that Charlie King, and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will decry this betrayal of the public trust and ask that Congressman Rangel be removed from the Democratic Party as they did for Senator Pedro Espada?

Or can we expect that these crusaders for justice will insist that judgment be withheld until all the facts are in and a final determination made by the US House of Representatives before they revisit the issue of Rangel's fitness to be considered a Democrat.

Maybe Senator Pedro Espada should expect the same kind of temperance and reserve before Democratic leaders like Andrew Cuomo or Charlie King rush to judgment and try to deprive Senator Espada of membership in the Democratic Party."