Responsibility

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y came up with an interesting defense for his ethics violation - he should not be held responsible for things that his staff knew, even if they wrote him two memos and a letter.

"Members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoings or mistakes or errors of staff," Rangel said.

Even more interesting is that Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, backed him up on this.

"I think it's quite a statement to hold members accountable for what their staffs knew," Pelosi said. "I would be interested to see how that reverberates. But we have to place our confidence appropriately, and we're held responsible for that."

Accountability starts at the top. Rangel broke the rules by accepting corporate money (twice) for trips to a Caribbean conference. His staff notified him that he was breaking rules. His defense comes down to insisting that he doesn't pay attention to memos and letters that his staff sends him. Remember, this is one of the most powerful men in Congress.

This should come as no surprise. When people started making a fuss about Congressmen not reading the bills the voted into law, many bristled, insisting that they couldn't understand the laws, anyway. Ironically, they said that they left it to their staffs to decipher and summarize the laws for them. Of course, that implies that they actually read their staffs' recommendations.

In the rest of the world, the person on top is held responsible for his staff knowledge. That includes making sure that his staff notifies him before he violates rules or breaks laws.

Just imagine if the head of Toyota testified to Congress that he shouldn't be held responsible for things that his company did.

Or, imagine trying to tell a policeman that you shouldn't get a speeding ticket because your passenger didn't tell you that you were over the limit.

Rangel is off of his committee but he insists that he is only taking a leave. He probably expects to let the flap blow over then go back to being powerful.