(Lake Zurich, Illinois) - Apparently, ‘I already spent it’ is a good enough reason for keeping dirty money, at least for Rep. Melissa Bean.
Bean is refusing to give back or to charity the $28,000 she received from Rep. Charlie Rangel who is under investigation from the House Ethics Committee for accepting lavish vacations from special interest groups with business before the powerful House Ways and Means committee while serving as chairman. He is also being investigated for failing to report assets, including his interest in a Dominican Republican guest unit, according to the Daily Herald.
Bean’s spokesman Jonathan Lipman told the Daily Herald Bean intends to keep the money because a) the money was given before Rangel was under investigation for ethical abuses, and b) the money has already been spent.
“So as long as you spend the money before you get caught it is ok?” said Joe Walsh.
“Dirty money is dirty money regardless of when it was received or spent,” Walsh added. “Just ask all the politicians in Illinois who have returned donations from Stu Levine, Tony Rezko or George Ryan over the last decade.”
Walsh also noted that other Democrat Congressmen and congressional candidates including Bill Foster (D-14) and Dan Seals (D-10) have donated campaign cash they received from Rangel to charity.
“Melissa Bean is part of the corrupt Washington political culture,” said Walsh. “Charlie Rangel bought her support for Ways and Means Chairman with tens of thousands of dollars in cash over the past two years. He got his chairmanship, she got re-elected and the American people got left holding the bag as Rangel and Bean worked to ship manufacturing jobs overseas and undermine the quality of our health care system.”
