Rangel: another thief in charge of the money
Below is an interesting thumb sucker thanks to Irene, who says pretends she is not online.
Being a member of the "yes we can" government, he also thinks he does not have to report income or pay taxes. What does he say, now that he is caught:
Just another day in Changeland. I am surprised he didn't say it was Bush's fault.
I have a smart question for Rangel: "Are you a thief?" I think that is smart enough for him. Oh, as far as I can tell, All the King's Men, a great film, is a thinly hidden story about Huey Long. Rangel could show old Huey a few things.
Rangel-ing: Charlie Pays 'Angels' In Ethics Probe
Harlem Congressman Gave Campaign Contributions To 3 Dems On Ethics Committee Charged With Investigating Him
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Reporting-
Click to enlarge - U.S. Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY
.
..The reigning member of Congress' top tax committee is apparently "wrangling" other politicos to get him out of his own financial and tax troubles.
Here's a look at Charlie's so-called "angels" involved in his ethics investigation.
Congressman Rangel has been arrogant in refusing to discuss how, as the man who writes this country's tax laws, he failed to report over $1 million in outside income and $3 million in business transactions as required by the House, lapses under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
"I recognize that all of you have an obligation to ask questions knowing that there's none of you smart enough to frame it in such a way that I'm going to respond," Rangel said.
There may be a reason for Rangel's arrogance. CBS 2 HD has discovered that since ethics probes began last year the 79-year-old congressman has given campaign donations to 119 members of Congress, including three of the five Democrats on the House Ethics Committee who are charged with investigating him.
(Did you get that? - HE has donated money to 119 Congress folk. Amazing. He grew up poor in Harlem. Rangel had a short stay at a law firm in the early 1960s. After that he always worked in government. Must be good pay in the government if he forgets to report millions in income and gave donations to 119 members of Congress. This is the LBJ school of public service.)
Charlie's "angels" on the committee include Congressmen Ben Chandler of Kentucky, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Peter Welch of Vermont. All have received donations from Rangel.
Only Welch sees something wrong with being financial beholden to Charlie.
"In an abundance of caution, he has returned all campaign contributions from Mr. Rangel," said spokesman Bob Rogan, Welch's Chief of Staff.
It amounted to nearly 20 grand.
Experts say the congressman's largess makes him crazy like a fox.
"Certainly money does make friends and influence people and perhaps make him a little bit more popular and at this particular moment that might help," said pundit Micheline Blum of Baruch College.
"Buying insurance, you know? Don't bite the hand that's feeding you. Clearly he sees himself as having a problem and he is contributing to members who might look favorably," added Doug Muzzio of Baruch.
Congressman Rangel has said he expects the House Ethics Committee to rule quickly on the ethical charges that are being brought against him. The problem is he's been saying the same thing for well over a year.
Rangel's office did not return a request for comment on the question of whether the congressman thought members receiving donations from him should step aside and let others rule on the ethics charges.What ethics charge? Why isn't he in jail? Perhaps, he is
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Note his current lawyer is Lanny Davis. a mixed bag himself who is, at least, not a crazy thief. He is presently speaking on behalf of Honduras' military regarding its removal of Zalaya. An interesting position given Obama's love for Marxists who steal power. He also was an operative for Liberman in his last campaign and a friend of Bush 2 since Yale. Can't be all bad.
As with Kennedy, he will probably just die and the evil that he does interred with his bones.2008–2009 ethics investigations and tax controversies
In July 2008, Rangel asked the House Ethics Committee to determine if his use of a Congressional letterhead while seeking to arrange meetings in which recipients of the letters would be solicited for contributions for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York had violated any House rules.[55]
The New York Times reported on July 10, 2008 that Rangel rents four apartments in the Lenox Terrace complex in Harlem at below-market rates. The newspaper reported that Rangel paid $3,894 monthly for all four apartments in 2007, but that the going rate for similar apartments offered by the landlord in that building would be as high as $8,125 monthly. Three adjacent apartments on the 16th floor were combined to make up his 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) home; a fourth unit on the 10th floor is used as a campaign office, even though that violates city and state regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence. The apartments are in a building owned by the Olnick Organization. Rangel received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from one of the company’s owners, according to The Times. Rangel told the newspaper his rent does not affect his representation of his constituents.
A Congressional ethics experts cited by The Times indicated that the difference in rent between what Rangel was paying and market rates on the second, third and fourth apartments he rented, an estimated $30,000 per year, could be construed as a gift as the savings is granted at the discretion of the landlord and is not offered to the public at large; if this should be treated as a gift, it would exceed the $100 limit established by the House of Representatives.[56] In late July, the House voted 254 to 138 to table a resolution submitted by Minority Leader John Boehner that would have censured Rangel for having "dishonored himself and brought discredit to the House" by occupying the four apartments.[57]
Rangel was also accused of failing to report income from the rental of a villa he owns in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, a three-bedroom, three-bath unit that has been rented out for as much as $1,100 per night in the busiest tourist season, from mid-December to mid-April.[58] Labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, one of the principal investors in the resort development company and a frequent campaign contributor to Rangel, had encouraged the congressman to purchase the beachside villa. Rangel had purchased the unit in 1988 for $82,750 and financed $53,737.50 of the purchase price for seven years at a rate of 10.5%, but was one of several early investors who had interest payments waived in 1990.[59] In September 2008, Lanny Davis, Rangel's attorney, disclosed that Rangel had failed to report $75,000 in income he had received for renting the condo on his tax returns or in congressional disclosure forms. His accountants were calculating the amounts owed and would be filing amended city, state and federal tax returns to cover the liability for back taxes.[60].
A September 14, 2008 editorial in The New York Times called for Rangel to temporarily step down from his chairmanship, stating that "Mounting embarrassment for taxpayers and Congress makes it imperative that Representative Charles Rangel step aside as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee while his ethical problems are investigated."[61]
Additional accounting discrepancies were disclosed on September 15, 2008, including omission in Rangel's financial reports of details regarding the sale of a home he once owned on Colorado Avenue in Washington, DC, discrepancies in the value listed for a property he owns in Sunny Isles, Florida (varying from $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to $500,000), and inconsistencies in investment fund reporting. While Republican leaders have called for his removal from his role as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee which plays a pivotal role in shaping tax law, Rangel has stated that there is no justification for his removal. "I owed my colleagues and the public adherence to a higher standard of care not only as a member of Congress but even more as the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee," he said. He also stated that the mistakes were errors of omission that would not justify loss of his position.[62]
An article in the September 18, 2008 New York Post states, "Rep. Charles Rangel has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz - a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker... House rules forbid use of the garage for long-term storage more than 45 days - and congressional aides told The Post that Rangel's car has been sitting there for years. A House Web site on parking regulations informs anyone with a space that, under IRS regulations, the benefit of the free parking is considered 'imputed income' and must be declared to the government. The spaces are valued by the House at $290 per month. In addition to the storage issue, the vehicle... runs afoul of other rules set forth on the House Web site because it does not have license plates and does not display a current House parking permit." [63]
In September 2008 Rangel paid back taxes of $10,800, owed from rental income on his Dominican villa.[64] Rangel acknowledged that he had failed to declare $75,000 in rental income from his beachfront villa on his tax returns; he had owed back taxes for at least three years. Rangel is the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which writes the United States tax code and as such his failure to pay taxes himself came under heavy criticism.[64]
On September 24, 2008, the House Ethics Committee announced that it would start an investigation to determine whether Rangel "violated the Code of Official Conduct, or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to his conduct in the performance of his duties." CBS 2 News reported that the investigation would also explore "Rangel's use of four rent-stabilized apartments leased in the Lenox Terrace apartment complex in Harlem, the financing of the beachfront villa leased in the Dominican Republic, and his questionable storage of a late-model Mercedes Benz in the House garage."[65]
On November 23, 2008, the New York Post reported that Rangel took a "homestead" tax break on his Washington, DC house for years while simultaneously occupying multiple New York City rent-stabilized apartments, "possibly violating laws and regulations in both cases."[66]
In late November 2008, Republican members of Congress asked the House Ethics Committee to look into Rangel's defense of a tax shelter loophole that allows tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks for a company which has donated $1 million to the City College of New York school named after Rangel; under the loophole approved by Rangel's Ways and Means Committee, Nabors Industries has been allowed to open a small outlet in Bermuda and call itself a foreign corporation.[2] Rangel denied the charges.[2] In 2004, he had led the opposition to the tax breaks.[2] Nabors' CEO, Eugene Isenberg, said that the company's September 2006 donation was unrelated to what he calls Rangel's promise to him to oppose the closing of the loophole after a meeting in February 2007.[2] Isenberg gave a further $100,000 to the Rangel Center five days prior to that meeting.[2] Nabors was one of four companies which benefited from the loophole.[2][67]
The House Ethics Committee voted on December 9, 2008 to expand its investigation of Rangel to examine his role in the Isenberg matter.[68] Isenberg subsequently denied there was any quid pro quo and called a New York Times article about it "full of malarkey".[69]
In December 2008, it surfaced that Rangel paid $80,000 in campaign funds to an Internet company run by his son for the creation of his PAC website.[70] Screenshots of the website have circulated showing grave misspellings and other errors on the site.[71]
In August 2009, Rangel amended his 2007 financial disclosure form to report more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets and income, which effectively doubles his reported net worth. On September 3, 2009 the Washington Post called on Rangel to resign his chairmanship. [72] Unreported assets included a federal credit union checking account of between $250,000 and $500,000, several investment accounts, stock in Yum! Brands and PepsiCo, and property in Glassboro, New Jersey.[72] Rangel also did not pay property taxes on two of his New Jersey properties.[72]
Labels: Charlie Rangel, hack politician, tax cheat
posted by Gene | 1:47 PM
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