Posted on 09/29/2009 6:11:26 PM PDT by Libloather
Why hasn't Charlie Rangel stepped down?
After documented reports of his sweetheart deals, influence peddling, unreported assets, and untaxed income, Charlie Rangel is still chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Can't anyone tell him to move aside?
Francis Wilkinson
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Glenn Beck launched an attack against the Obama administration's "green jobs" director Van Jones in the last week of August. By Labor Day, Jones was FOX-kill. Compare that to the results achieved by The New York Times and The Washington Post, both of which have called for New York Rep. Charles Rangel to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The newspapers began urging Rangel to step aside back in 2008; it's now close to 2010 and Rangel hasn't budged.
Unlike Jones, Rangel doesn't have a colorful past as a leftist and signer of a conspiracy statement suggesting that President Bush knew the planes were headed for the towers. And when it comes to causing a ruckus, the Times and the Post are disadvantaged by their adherence to standards of decorum and fair play that Beck subverts for a living. But Rangel's transgressions appear so plentiful and severe that it's a wonder he still has a job, let alone the chairmanship of the tax-writing committee that the Times calls "one of the most powerful bodies in American government."
The trouble started in July, 2008, when the Times exposed Rangel's possession of four rent-stabilized apartments in a building owned by a major real estate developer. (In New York City, real estate is one part location, two parts politics). The Times calculated that this improbably sweet deal was saving Rangel $30,000 a year in rent.
Four days later, the Post pitched in with a report on another Rangel scandal. For an academic center Rangel had launched with a $1.9 million earmark, and which would be named in his honor, he was soliciting donations from corporate interests that had business before his committee. He even used his congressional letterhead. As if that wasn't unseemly enough, Rangel won a superlative character reference from none other than Donald Trump, who told the Post, "Charlie Rangel is the most honorable, honest politician in Washington." Yikes.
The close timing of the articles was likely pure coincidence—not unlike a bullet coincidentally finding the back of a mobster's head at point-blank range. Rangel had displeased some people in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, perhaps not so much by his endorsement of fellow New Yorker Hillary Clinton for president, which was politics, but by running interference for the Clintons when they began playing the racial angle against Obama after the New Hampshire primary. That was politics, too, but of a sort that some in Rangel's Harlem district and elsewhere didn't much appreciate. A short time later, both the Times and the Post had interesting scoops.
It didn't end there. The Times later reported that Rangel owned a vacation property in the Dominican Republic, acquired on favorable terms, for which he had long failed to pay taxes on rental income. More recently, Rangel altered his congressional financial disclosure form to reveal an additional $500,000 in assets—at a minimum, one-fifth of his total reported wealth—that had somehow slipped his mind. While the House ethics committee investigates, Rangel has wisely opted for the what-a-dunce-I-am! explanation of his conduct. The alternative, of course, is the what-a-sleazeball-I-am! rationale, which spin doctors generally advise against.
Meantime, the gregarious, good-time Charlie is still chairman of Ways and Means. Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn't pushed him out and it looks like the combined force of the Post and the Times isn't up to the task, either. The Buffalo News last month became the first paper in New York State to call for Rangel's resignation, which might be a sign of momentum, but is more likely just another lament from the north about the habits of politicians downstate. Perhaps Democrats in Washington are afraid to sacrifice Rangel. The next ranking Democrat on the committee is Pete Stark of California, the only professed atheist in Congress. (You can hear the shrieks of hysteria rising in the distance.)
So who knows? Despite all his foul-ups, maybe Rangel will remain chairman of "one of the most powerful bodies in American government." Or maybe his removal will have to wait until someone with real influence and stature in American politics insists that Rangel step down. Someone, that is, like Glenn Beck.
Exactly. Did you notice how half the story is bashing Fox news rather than the meat? A Democrat is corrupt.
Charlie won’t step down because he is black and will pull the race card in a New York minute.
Do you ‘member those pictures of “president bill” standing on the White House lawn, encircled by smiling, jocular, supportive democrats?
Next question, where is randy cunningham?
On June 26, 2009, Bloomberg News reported on Chairman Rangel’s role in the Diageo Rum Bailout.
On September 1, 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported on Chairman Rangel’s lack of action on pending legislation that would prevent $2.9 billion of U.S. Tax dollars from going to British concern Diageo.
On September 2, 2009, the L.A. Times reported on Chairman Rangel’s association with a deal to give $2.8 billion of U.S. Tax dollars to Diageo to make rum in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Rum Bailout Information which has all the details of the Chairman Rangel’s dealings with Diageo’s $2.8 billion bailout.
On September 20, 2009, the Associated Press reported on Chairman Rangel’s ethics problems.
Because he knows where all the skeletons are buried.
If that crook feels so much as uncomfortable, he’ll squeal like a baby piggy.... and they know it.
Because the Congressional Black Caucus has informed Nancy that any move to remove him would be racist. Even asking questions is racist.
Name one republican who will have the guts to use this walking bag of scum as a poster boy for democrat corruption during the 2010 or 2012 elections. (pun intended)
They are afraid of being singled out as racists.
Because he hasn’t buggered any little white boys that we know of yet.
But at least Capone provided something worthwhile that people desired, booze. Rangel only provides for Rangel. And in Capone's world, honor (even of the gangster variety) was important. There is no honor asked for or given in Rangel's.
Thyere is the IRS hotline where you call in with informationon on those committing tax wrongoings. I wonder if over 500 people all called in with Charlie Rangel’s misdeeds and his addresses, they would consider looking into him. Even better, all our Congresscritters could do this.
oops, sorry for any spelling errors...working on a project. my bad.
Rangel should be out on bail, pending trial.
I disagree. The previous occupant of that seat was Adam Clayton Powell -easily, if not MORE corrupt than Mr. Rangel.
Employers of congressmen from many other districts weighed in on his conduct and he
” was eventually removed from his seat by the Democratic members-elect of the 90th Congress following allegations of corruption.”
Its easy to blame our fellow American’s in his district...but frankly the corruption is heavy and legitimate contenders find the air healthier outside his district. Which is why pressure form outside needs to be brought to bear.
I’ve noticed for years that Republicans are always falling over themselves to praise “Charlie”, like the late Jack Kemp, for instance. These Republicans are hoping the Harlem Democrat will say something nice about them in order to impress their constituents.
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