"I didn't do it!" The words of yet another in a long line of corrupt New York politicians. Do any of us really believe those words anymore? When will our elected representatives ever take responsibility for their own actions? I guess it's not going to happen today, as Charlie throws his staff under the proverbial bus...
Charlie Rangel has become the latest member of the "Who, me?" chorus, blaming aides, staff and anybody but themselves for a crisis.As the Harlem legend's tangled personal finances have come under scrutiny by the media and a House ethics panel, the 20-term congressman has taken personal responsibility for ethical lapses - but also suggested he was misinformed by others.
"Common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or errors of staff," Rangel said Thursday after queried about reports the House ethics committee had admonished him for taking a corporate-sponsored trip to the Caribbean in 2008.
In 2008, Rangel explained his failure to include income from his Dominican Republic beachfront villa on disclosure forms this way:
"While over the years I delegated to my staff the completion of my annual House financial disclosure statements, I had the ultimate responsibility."
He also suggested he wasn't in the loop because his wife, Alma, handles the family finances.
"You're the name on the ballot," a veteran Republican political consultant noted. "You may as well step up and take the hit, since you're responsible in the end."
...Oh, yeah. "My wife did it!" Why doesn't he just blame his dog for eating the his financial disclosure statements!? And then a few minutes later, he completed the joke on all of us by making it clear that he's going for his 21st stale term in office...
Rep. Charles Rangel made it clear Saturday: He's running this year for a 21st term as Harlem's congressman.
Rangel, under fire for alleged ethics violations, acknowledged he was aware of calls for his retirement or resignation.
His response?
"Run for reelection," the 79-year-old Democrat told the Daily News after a Harlem meeting of city leaders.
The powerful head of the Ways and Means Committee was rebuked this week by a House ethics committee for accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.
He's also facing charges of failure to pay taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic, hiding a half-million dollars in income and reaping a sweetheart deal on four rent-stabilized apartments.
Rangel was first elected to the House in 1970.
...Sure, Charlie. You "deserve" another two years. You have unfinished work right? You haven't finished off all the people of the state of New York, huh?
Over the next few months, UE will be discussing the extensive failures of the "Dean" of NY's Congressional delegation in greater detail - both in terms of his local role as the Congressman from the 15th Congressional District as well as his national role as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
I think it is clear that Charlie needs to go...
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written by Quickjustice , February 28, 2010
And to think that GOP N.Y. Governor Nelson Rockefeller launched Charlie Rangel's career, calculating that Charlie was the "least bad" Democratic politician in Harlem!
I'd say Rockelfeller was sadly mistaken!
written by Jay Golub , February 28, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/new...urces.html
Rangel gets an earful from Ford on taxes and healthcare...
The dean of New York's congressional delegation and a man who may try to become a member of it crossed paths - and maybe swords - in Harlem Sunday.
Rep. Charles Rangel and potential Senate candidate Harold Ford were at a closed-door meeting about Gov. Paterson when they exchanged words over health care reform and taxes, multiple sources told the Daily News.
Ford served in the House with Rangel as a 10-year Tennessee representative. He is now mulling a Democratic primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
One source said "the tensest moment was when [Ford] took on [Rangel], saying [a] jobs bill should come before health care" and that a health bill shouldn't hike New Yorkers' taxes or leave businesses unable to hire people.
Sources said Ford also warned the assembled leaders against losing touch with the will of the voters - and subsequently losing their offices - even if they felt they were doing what was best.
Rangel, in turn, insisted on defending his work with President Obama on health care, witnesses said, retorting that the final reforms passed will be in Americans' best interest - and telling Ford and the rest of the room that taxes here are less onerous than elsewhere.
"The tone that Rangel adopted seemed a little bit contemptuous - but that was consistent with how a lot of us reacted," a source said. "It was almost as if [Ford] delivered a lecture to us."
...and considering that "jobs" are in greater demand in the 15th Congressional district, I find it hard to understand Charlie's view on the matter.
Would Charlie prefer that everyone has a job with healthcare benefits rather than public assistance and medicaid? Or maybe not...
written by Jay Golub , February 28, 2010
"I'd say Rockelfeller was sadly mistaken!"
I'd say he was "sadly mistaken" about many things...
written by evannyny , February 28, 2010
Rocky was a tad too liberal on certain things, and YET he is reviled by liberals for the Rockefeller drug laws and for Attica. The drug laws can be debated, but they were put in place 30 years ago, when perhaps the drug debate was not as detailed as it is today. Treatment options, sentencing alternatives were not too fashionable back then. So basically Rocky was taking a draconian approach to a monstrous public crisis.
Leave it to the evil liberals to tar Nelson Rockefeller, who in spite of some of his liberal policies was a leader and a great American, leave it to the evil liberals to see that he is known for only one thing: the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
In 1970, Rangel defeated Powell in the Democratic primary. Thinking he could lose that primary, he ALSO ran with GOP backing, so he could still be on the ballot in November.
Once in office, for many years, Rangel ran with both Democratic and Republican backing. As a district leader, I dreaded carrying GOP petitions with the name RANGEL on them. At least in recent years, we stopped endorsing him, though we have, on occasion endorsed non-Republicans for Congress in the 15th. Hopefully that will NOT be the case in 2010, since we have a solid candidate in Faulkner.
written by CitizenK , February 28, 2010
I swear, we need a literal rotten eggs brigade for people like Rangel. The next time he appears anywhere in NYC, there ought to be a nice large group of Americans with baskets of eggs and cartons of tomatoes. They can plaster this disgrace of a man and make sure photos are seen everywhere.
He needs to be visibly, physically abused in the old-timey fashion of early Americana. It would do our country some good. And I'm not ashamed one bit to say it.
written by Jay Golub , March 01, 2010
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/n...KFzctYfVBJ
add "blatantly lying" to the long list of Rangel transgressions. He KNEW about corporate sponsorship of his trip to the Caribbean...
Rep. Charles Rangel was made aware that organizers of the Caribbean junkets he attended were grubbing for freebie plane tickets from corporate sponsors, according to a report from the House Ethics Committee.
In a letter dated April 23, 2007, and carbon-copied to Rangel, the head of the Carib News Foundation solicited American Airlines to donate 90 round-trip first-class and coach tickets to cover flights to its conference that year in Antigua and Barbuda. Rangel attended that junket and one in 2008.
The letter and an interview with Karl Rodney, CEO of the Carib News Foundation, were included in the House Ethics Committee report, which concluded that the Harlem congressman broke congressional rules by accepting junkets bankrolled by corporate sponsors.
Despite the admonishment, Rangel, 79, told The Post on Saturday that he wasn't giving up his seat.
"I'm going to run for re-election," he said.
Meanwhile, Rangel got a mild scolding yesterday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said his ethics lapse was "not good" but left wiggle room as to whether her longtime ally would retain the chair of Congress' tax-writing committee.
Rangel could face a vote as soon as this week to boot him from his perch atop the Ways and Means Committee.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that breaking House gift-ban rules by taking corporate-sponsored junkets to Caribbean hot spots was not as bad as other violations still under review by ethics investigators and that decisions about Rangel's fate should wait.
"The fact is what Mr. Rangel has been admonished for is not good. It was a violation of the rules of the House. It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way," Pelosi said on ABC's "This Week."
For more than a year, ethics investigators have been scrutinizing Rangel for failing to pay taxes and report income on House financial-disclosure forms.
...maybe Pelosi will have the spine to remove him now from the Ways and Means Committee. If that happens, there may just be enough blood in the water to get rid of this relic of past once-and-for-all...
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