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The Absent-Minded Chairman--Charlie Rangel wins the personal lottery
Wall Street Journal ^ | August 28, 2009 | Editorial

Posted on 08/28/2009 9:35:25 AM PDT by jazusamo

When normal people happen to "find" their own money, it might mean a twenty left in a winter coat, or discovering change beneath the sofa cushions. But if you're Charlie Rangel, it means doubling your net worth.

Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee "amended" his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress's ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel's net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

When you're a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama's health-care plan, we suppose it's easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts. That would be the one at the federal credit union with a balance somewhere between $250,001 and maybe as high as $500,000. And when you're crunched for time and pulling together bills to pass in a rush, we guess, too, that you might overlook several other investment accounts, even if some of them are sizable, such as the ones Mr. Rangel missed at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Oppenheimer and BlackRock.

Oh, and those vacant properties in Glassboro, in southern Jersey? Everybody in Manhattan tries not to think much about New Jersey, so those lots and their as-much-as-$15,000 value must also have slipped down the memory hole. (The New York Post reported yesterday that Mr. Rangel failed to pay property taxes for two of the lots, according to the county clerk's office.)

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: 111th; fraud; rangel; taxdodger; taxes
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1 posted on 08/28/2009 9:35:26 AM PDT by jazusamo
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To: All
Please bump the Freepathon and donate if you haven’t done so!

2 posted on 08/28/2009 9:37:23 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

Of course, Charlie will ammend his income tax filings as well in order to do his patriotic duty of paying the proper amount of taxes! No??


3 posted on 08/28/2009 9:37:26 AM PDT by downtownconservative (As Obama lies, liberty dies!)
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To: downtownconservative

So, Obama can go after Americans in Swiss banks, but won’t go after the very corruption in congress....well depends on the color of the scheme of the day.


4 posted on 08/28/2009 9:42:15 AM PDT by Freddd (Government run health care=paying more and being denied what we already have.)
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To: downtownconservative

I guess the question of how and why he keeps so much money in a simple checking account will never come up. Is this his frozen assets? Or cold cash? Like Jefferson?
The House will take years to investigate this guy and then..well..nothing will happen.
Corruption is tolerate among the Rats,,especially ones that can scream “racism” at every critic.
It is time to clean House. And the Senate.


5 posted on 08/28/2009 9:42:35 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: jazusamo
I found $.80 in at the bottom of the washing machine yesterday so I can totally relate.
6 posted on 08/28/2009 9:43:22 AM PDT by txroadkill (The SDS has taken control of the country.)
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To: txroadkill

LOL!

Wonder if Charlie keeps his records in his freezer?


7 posted on 08/28/2009 9:45:00 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo

When and where will the breaking point come? Wrangle is blatantly and obviously as corrupt a politician as we have in government. But one might ask, “how can you tell him from the others?” Wrangle has to go, to prison.


8 posted on 08/28/2009 9:46:35 AM PDT by Richard Axtell (Only a Democrat can lie about being honest.)
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To: Richard Axtell

Exactly! He’s every bit the criminal William Jefferson and many other of our elected officials convicted of crimes are.


9 posted on 08/28/2009 9:48:40 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: jazusamo
Wonder if Charlie keeps his records in his freezer?

LP's or 45's?

10 posted on 08/28/2009 9:50:26 AM PDT by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: txroadkill

“I found $.80 in at the bottom of the washing machine yesterday so I can totally relate.”

I hope you reported it as capital gains.


11 posted on 08/28/2009 10:04:19 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: Oldexpat

It’s interesting that this money would suddenly appear in a domestic checking account at the same time the Swiss bank UBS is about to release a list of account holders. I wonder if the likes of Barney Frank, Dodd, Maxine Waters, et al, will soon be “discovering” windfall accounts in domestic banks very soon.


12 posted on 08/28/2009 10:23:16 AM PDT by DPMD (~)
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To: jazusamo
Paging Speaker Pelosi, will you please pick up the white courtesy phone?

"This leadership team will create the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history" - Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Press Release, November 16, 2006

I fear that I may just BARF!

13 posted on 08/28/2009 11:01:22 AM PDT by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
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To: Richard Axtell

The breaking point has been exceeded long ago for us. What does it take? What the eff is the IRS doing? waiting patiently?? IF Geithner can get away with it, so can the rest of them??? The march of Wshington needs more chapters...or more days. I am sick of it...

Drain the swap or burn it down


14 posted on 08/28/2009 11:03:12 AM PDT by SueRae
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To: mowowie
I hope you reported it as capital gains.

Not really but I fear a coming asset tax which will count this and then it will be counted again for the estate tax as well!

15 posted on 08/28/2009 11:05:38 AM PDT by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
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To: SES1066
I fear that I may just BARF!

Yep...It seems Pelousi forgot all about that the day after she made the statement. Another barfer was her backing Murtha for majority leader, one of the most corrupt in Congress although never nailed.

16 posted on 08/28/2009 11:15:28 AM PDT by jazusamo (But there really is no free lunch, except in the world of political rhetoric,.: Thomas Sowell)
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To: verga
LP's or 45's?

Neither. He has 78's.

Amazing << Hear this. Feel this, and tell me that this isn't music.

Oh, dear...


17 posted on 08/28/2009 11:25:52 AM PDT by rdb3 (The mouth is the exhaust pipe of the heart.)
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To: txroadkill
I found $.80 in at the bottom of the washing machine yesterday so I can totally relate.

Money laundering is a crime, you know.

18 posted on 08/28/2009 12:03:17 PM PDT by dirtboy
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To: dirtboy

the good news is that it didn’t put me over $250K to put me on 0bama’s enemy list, the bad news is that I don’t think it matters, I’ll still be on the list.


19 posted on 08/28/2009 1:09:28 PM PDT by txroadkill (The SDS has taken control of the country.)
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To: jazusamo

If I were a corrupt politician (like Charlie Rangel “allegedly” is, but that HAS NOT been proven) and if I wanted to get away with being all dirty and corrupty and cheaty on my taxes... I would make sure that the public schools in my district failed and never taught my constituents anything... then I would force them to attend those public schools for 12 years... or drop out and collect welfare checks that I would deliver to them... either way, they would be so stupid that they would re-elect me over and over again and I would be able to lie, cheat and steal my way to tremendous wealth and power! Hahahahahahahahaha!!! Haaahaaaahaaaahaaa (evil laugh).

I hope Charlie doesn’t steal my evil idea (not that he would steal) before I get a chance to... uh oh... wait a minute!... what??... somebody’s already doing that!?!? Why are all of the good ideas already taken? :(

Oh well, I will just watch my favorite Charlie Rangel video and then I will feel much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdtFWCrCh0s


20 posted on 08/28/2009 2:13:38 PM PDT by Painesright
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