House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday privately pushed Rep. Charlie Rangel to give up his chairmanship of the influential House tax-rules committee amid explosive revelations that his personal tax filings were riddled with errors and omissions, a well placed source said.| San Fran Nan has been taking lessons from The One on how to flip-flop ... |
Rangel subsequently admitted owing at least $10,000 in back taxes and became a target of Republican political attacks.
One member of the New York congressional delegation who supported Pelosi's decision said, "You have to have one standard - you can't have one for [Republicans] and one for us."
Rangel himself remained mum on his sitdown with Pelosi after exiting a later, separate meeting with fellow Democratic committee members. "I am unable to say anything," he said before bizarrely rattling off his name, rank and serial number from his Korean War days. "Do to me what you want, I'm not talking."
The 76-year-old politician smiled when asked if he was still chairman of the powerful tax panel.
Pelosi later denied through spokesperson Nadeam Elshami that she has asked Rangel to step aside. And a committee member, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), asked if Rangel was still in charge, replied, "You're damn right he's the chairman."But in an indication that Rangel may have to fight to keep his position, he scheduled an emergency meeting with the New York delegation today, a source said.
Meanwhile, Rangel was still using his leadership position as an inspirational tale for kids at Harlem's Democracy Prep Charter School yesterday. "It was that education that took a 23-year-old high-school dropout to the Ways and Means Committee," he said.
Rangel's lawyer said the congressman would hire a forensic accountant to review his tax filings over the past 20 years. He also may have to account for why he didn't properly disclose the sale of a Washington, DC, home in 2000, the various values he placed on his former Sunny Isles, Fla., condo, and the wild fluctuations he recorded for his personal investments.