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| DC Dems Move To Save Rangel |
| 2009-08-31 |
| House Democrats are willing to rally around Rep. Charles Rangel in his latest spate of tax missteps -- but only as long as no more embarrassing revelations come to light, sources told The Post. The head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee last week amended six years' worth of financial disclosure forms and revealed he'd earned $1.3 million in previously unreported income. That's on top of ongoing House Ethics Committee probes into four other areas of Rangel's financial past -- including failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa he owns. But unless the Ethics Committee probes hit Rangel with something more than a slap on the wrist -- or a bigger scandal arises -- Democrats are unlikely to push him off the Ways and Means Committee, a Washington insider said. "He doesn't strike me as someone who would go quietly, and he's not afraid to play the race card on his own party," the DC source said. Friends like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the New York delegation are committed to keeping Rangel in place, sources said. "Unless he's done something absolutely insane that hasn't come out yet, he's protected," said a Democratic official. Rangel filed his amended forms during Congress' August break, just three days ahead of his extended deadline. "He was smart to get this new information out now, before we are back in session and working on the health-care bill," said a Republican lawmaker close to the issue. "If he'd waited two more weeks, a lot more Republicans would be there to demand he step down," the Republican said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 Pelosi's Culture Of Corruption Notice Rangel doing the political two step in this clip |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-08-31 14:27 |
| #10 "The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." -Nancy Pelosi, November, 2006 |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2009-08-31 14:14 |
| #9 It's gonna end with them waking up or the rest of us taking up arms. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2009-08-31 12:28 |
| #8 He's a "Fixer". And like any competent Fixer you accumulate dirt on your friends and foe equally The o'l political two step.......when will this B.S. end?? He should've been in prison a looooooong time ago. |
| Posted by: armyguy 2009-08-31 12:10 |
| #7 It ain’t the race card or Nancy Pelosi’s cover that makes Charlie virtually untouchable. He’s a “Fixer”. And like any competent Fixer you accumulate dirt on your friends and foe equally. His talent for veiled threats disguised as wry comments have served him well thus far – there’s no reason to believe it won’t in the future. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-08-31 10:36 |
| #6 Making Adam Clayton Powell look like a school-boy. |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-08-31 10:31 |
| #5 Why would they want to get rid of him? I'm sure that right now, he would be very, very compliant with whatever Madame Pelosi would want him to do. (Not that he wasn't willing to go along before, but now there's no way in hell he would dare even make a squeak against anything she wants.) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-08-31 09:50 |
| #4 Term Limits would preclude 'old guard' like Rangel, Waxman, and Pelosi [and for that matter, the good old boys from the other side of the aisle] from stacking the committees with these two leggers, as in four legs good, two legs better. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-31 08:06 |
| #3 and he's not afraid to play the race card on his own party," the DC source said. No scoop here. Move along now will you. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-31 07:02 |
| #2 Does this mean that he is "squared away" with the IRS as well? |
| Posted by: tipover 2009-08-31 03:18 |
| #1 It must be nice not to be a "little person" and have that "get out of jail free card". Such a cleptocracy! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-08-31 01:22 |