MARILYN PENN: CHARLIE’S WRANGLES
Charley’s Wrangles
marilyn penn politicalmavens.com
In the real world, if you or I were to get caught by the IRS for any sort of cheating, we could not use as defense the fact that some of our best friends had gotten away with similar behavior. In the hallowed halls of congress, Charley Rangel wants a pass because he didn’t commit the same sins as previous recipients of censure and by his measure, he is not a corrupt man. The facts argue otherwise. In representing one of the poorest constituencies in New York, Charley greedily occupied four rent stabilized apartments at under-market value, basically stealing them from people who were entitled to and desperately needy of such limited housing. Should people who occupy even one subsidized apartment also own a Caribbean vacation retreat? In not paying taxes on his villa and not disclosing hundreds of thousands of dollars of assets on various financial forms, the Chairman of our Ways & Means Committee made a mockery of his imposing status while flaunting his disregard for the rules of the game. If you’re competent enough to hold that privileged position, you can’t maintain credibility by blaming your tax evasion on your accountant.
And when you raise money for a self-aggrandizing center named for you at a public university by soliciting people for whom your congressional committee has provided tax loopholes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, can you keep a straight face while stating that you did nothing to enrich yourself? Charley Rangel has led a charmed life, serving as a congressman for 40 years, collecting all the financial, political and social benefits that accrue to that position, much of that time knowing that he was living on the public’s dime and stealing from taxpayers. He will continue at his congressional job,newly re-elected by 80% of the voters despite his serious wrong-doing. Not content with that boon for an 80 year old hypocrite, he wants credit for not having been a sexual predator or someone who cursed the Speaker of the House. How low can Charley set the bar? His investigation alone has been a preposterous waste of our money, drawn out for years during which Charley stonewalled and held on to his chairmanship of Ways & Means, protected by Speaker Pelosi until even she had to acknowledge how that farce besmirched their party. There is no need to feel sorry for Charley Rangel – his small disgrace of congressional censure is entirely self-inflicted and a mere slap on the wrist for the man who forgot to include that he was also not a bank robber though his hand was assuredly in the till. He will continue to live as he always has – collecting his superior health insurance and pension, hobnobbing with his usual political cronies and basking in the reflected glory of the Charles Rangel Center while laughing at the symbolic penalty he must accept as quid pro quo for his ill-gotten good fortune.
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