What? Politicians on the take? What's next? Snow in the winter?

The New York Times has an Associated Press article about Charlie Rangel and a couple of other Congresspeople who were (allegedly, allegedly) on the take:

The House ethics committee is investigating whether five Democratic lawmakers, including two committee chairmen, received improper gifts in traveling to Caribbean conferences in 2007 and 2008. The committee said it was investigating Charles Rangel of New York, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan; Donald Payne of New Jersey; Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee; and Donna Christensen, the delegate from the Virgin Islands.
The annual Multinational Business Conference on Caribbean affairs is held in a different country each year, and it is officially sponsored by the Carib News Foundation. The Carib News is a small Caribbean newspaper based in New York City.
The lawmakers under scrutiny said the Committee on Standards of Conduct— the ethics committee’s full name— approved the travel in advance, as required by House rules. Despite that approval, there are indications that the committee is questioning whether corporations with lobbyists actually financed the lawmakers’ transportation, hotels, meals and other expenses. House rules approved in 2007 severely limit lawmakers and their staffs from accepting travel from an entity that employs or retains a registered lobbyist. That could be why the committee is examining the last two times the annual conference was held, instead of all thirteen.
In preliminary interviews, investigators asked whether there were any sponsors other than the Carib News Foundation, said I. Lanier Avant, chief of staff to Mr. Thompson. Lawmakers said it was their understanding that the Carib News Foundation alone paid their expenses.
“Congressman Rangel complied with all of the ethics rules related to this trip, which was approved by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct,” said his spokesman, Emile Milne. “He looks forward to a speedy resolution of this matter and will have no further comment until the committee completes its work.”
Attempts to reach Representative Payne’s office for comment Thursday night were unsuccessful.
Mr. Avant, Mr. Thompson’s top aide, said, “Neither Chairman Thompson nor I have any knowledge of any corporation or private entity that funds the Caribbean News Foundation. The only sponsor, the sole sponsor of the trip Chairman Thompson took was the Caribbean News Foundation, to his knowledge.”
Ms. Christensen said: “My staff and I are confident that we followed the required procedures in regards to travel to the conference. I look forward to a quick and just resolution to the matters at hand.”
Ms. Kilpatrick said, “The organizing foundation submitted the required information to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.” After the committee approved the trip, she said, she submitted “my request to travel and received written approval from the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to attend the conference.”
Mr. Rangel already is investigation by the committee on other matters, including his use of official resources to contact donors, his lease arrangements for apartments, and his compliance with financial disclosure requirements.
A four-member subcommittee will conduct the investigation. The ethics committee, without any other notification, posted an announcement of the investigation on its Web site on Wednesday night.

Rico says he is shocked, shocked, to find Congressmen and -women being accused of taking money from outside organizations...