The Washington Post writes that Democrat Charlie Rangel must step aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Much is expected of elected officials. Much more is expected and demanded of those entrusted with chairmanships and the power that comes with them, especially when it involves the nation’s purse strings. From all that we’ve seen thus far, Mr. Rangel has violated that trust continually and seemingly without care.

Actually, outside of the Post’s newsroom, I would think for most Americans, very little is expected of their elected officials. Chief amongst these requirements is not inverting the relationship between a politician and those who sent him to office, which is what the Atlantic’s Chris Good spots another Democrat, Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana imperiously attempting at “his” town hall meeting:

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt

“This Is My Town Hall For You”

That’s what Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), the policy leader of the conservative/moderate Blue Dog coalition, explained to a journalism student at a town-hall meeting Wednesday night who asked why she wasn’t allowed to videotape the event for a school project.

“This is my town hall meeting, and I set the rules, and I’ve had these rules,” Hill responded, in an authoritative tone. “Let me repeat that one more time. This is my town hall meeting for you. And you’re not going to tell me how to run my congressional office. Now, the reason why I don’t allow filming is that usually the films that are done end up on YouTube in a compromising position.”

Well, we can see how that worked out.

Hey, compared with fellow Democrat Congressman Pete Stark’s hyperbolic threat to kill his interviewer, he’s an absolute gentleman.

Update: Don Surber writes, “Excuse me, but by definition, townhall meetings belong to the town, not the town clown.”

Exactly.