It really never ends with this guy.

Representative Charles B. Rangel’s legal team is reviewing his tax records to determine whether the congressman received a homestead exemption on a house he owned in Washington while living in several rent-stabilized apartments in New York City.

The situation is potentially troublesome for Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat who is already the subject of a wide-ranging internal House investigation stemming from an assortment of ethical concerns.

Rent laws in New York City and the state require that tenants occupying rent-stabilized apartments use those units as their primary residences. At the same time, the District of Columbia’s Office of Tax and Revenue extends the homestead tax deduction only to properties that are primary residences.

The internal review by Mr. Rangel’s legal team was prompted by a report in Sunday’s edition of The New York Post quoting a District of Columbia tax official as saying that Mr. Rangel received a homestead tax exemption for a four-bedroom home he owned in Washington. The official told the newspaper that the congressman received the tax exemptions from 1995 through 2000, when he also had the use of rent-stabilized apartments in his district in Harlem.

As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rangel should know better. But I don’t think this is a case of ignorance. This is corruption, plain and simple. It is just one thing after another, and the excuses he keeps making are increasingly hard to swallow. If he was a Republican he would have been forced to resign already… or lost reelection. Rangel needs to go… It is time for the Democrats to clean up their party.

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Looks like Elliot Spitzer has joined the growing club of Above The Law Democrats:

Former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, who saw his rising political career come to an end last March, will not face federal criminal charges for being a customer of a high-priced prostitution ring, prosecutors said Thursday.

While the most famous client of Emperors Club VIP escapes prosecution, four people have pleaded guilty to federal crimes and are awaiting sentencing in the case.

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Perhaps more disturbing than Barack Obama’s connections to terrorist Bill Ayers and his lying about it is the fact that nearly 4000 so-called educators have signed a statement in support of Bill Ayers.

The statement, amongst other ridiculous things, says the following:

The current characterizations of Professor Ayers—“unrepentant terrorist,” “lunatic leftist”—are unrecognizable to those who know or work with him. It’s true that Professor Ayers participated passionately in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, as did hundreds of thousands of Americans. His participation in political activity 40 years ago is history; what is most relevant now is his continued engagement in progressive causes, and his exemplary contribution—including publishing 16 books— to the field of education.

So, according to these educators, bombing the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon is no different from non-violent and peaceful protest. These educators have voiced their support for a man who belonged to a domestic terrorist group that not only carried out bombings. but planned Nazi-esque re-education camps and genocide had they succeeded in taking over the government.

So which Western New York professors signed their names in support of Bill Ayers? I cross checked this  list of WNY colleges and universities with the pro-Ayers signatories. A large number of those who signed did not specify which school they teach at, so the list below only includes those who indicated their school.

Alfred University (2)

1. Thomas V. Peterson
2. Emrys Westacott

Brockport SUNY (2)

1. Sue Novinger
2. Marsha Ducey

Canisius College (0)

Daemen College (2)

1. Laura Watts Sommer
2. Christian Brandjes

D’Youville College (0)

Empire State College (3)

1. Nancy Berggren
2. Jill Hamberg
3. Alan Mandell

Erie Community College (0)

Fredonia State College (4)

1. Mira Tetkowski Berkley
2. Amy Chavez
3. Clara Beier
4. Kathleen Magiera

Genesee Community College (0)

Hilbert College (0)

Houghton College (1)

1. Mark LaCelle-Peterson

ITT Technical Institute (0)

Jamestown Business College (0)

Jamestown Community College (0)

Medialle College (0)

Nazareth College - Rochester (0)

Niagara County Community College (0)

Niagara University (1)

1. Carmen Montgomery

Rochester Institute of Technology (1)

1. Jean A. Douthwright Ph.D.

St. Bonaventure University (0)

State University of New York at Buffalo (10)

1. Lee Albert
2. P. Rudy Mattai
3. Susan Vivian Mangold
4. Bruce Jackson
5. Katherine Hart LaVail
6. George A. Barnett
7. Jim Holstun
8. Nathan J. Claes
9. James G. Milles
10. Fenice B. Boyd

State University of New York at Geneseo (2)

1. Leigh M. O’Brien, D. Ed.
2. David A. Granger

Trocaire College (0)

University of Rochester (0)

Villa Maria College (0)

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Another Democrat paying his “fair share” of taxes:

Gov. David Paterson’s chief of staff blames depression for failing to file income taxes for five years.

Charles O’Byrne, who earns $178,500, has paid more than $200,000 in back taxes.

The tax debt came to light when New York’s Department of State filed an outstanding warrant against O’Byrne last year.

He says he’s ashamed, but told the New York Post he’s aware that his failure to pay taxes was a consequence of an illness over which he had no control.

UPDATE: Senate GOP calls for an investigation:

The Senate’s Republican majority, fighting to keep its slim, decades-old control, is calling for an investigation into Democratic Gov. David Paterson’s top aide who repaid $200,000 in back taxes and penalties but didn’t include the debt on his ethics disclosure report.

Over the weekend, Paterson Chief of Staff Charles O’Byrne said he has paid the taxes and penalties he owed from 2001 to 2005. During that time, O’Byrne said he was clinically depressed and had informed Paterson, then the Senate Democratic leader, of his debts and medical condition.

In that five years, records show O’Byrne contributed $3,500 to the Democratic National Committee and Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign. In New York, he contributed just $5 during that time, but $750 the following year.

The New York Post first reported the story Saturday based on public tax records portraying O’Byrne as a deadbeat whose excuse, according to the front-page headline, was, “HE’S CRAZY.”

On Monday, Senate Republicans seized the issue to fight back against a Democratic governor who, riding high in polls, has sought to get the Legislature to agree to spending cuts to stave off billions of dollars in deficits. In recent weeks, Paterson irked Senate Republican leaders when he endorsed and raised funds for Democrats.

The office of Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Long Island said Monday that “serious questions are being raised here.”

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Wow, if the Buffalo News recognizes that Charlie Rangel should step down… then he really ought to consider doing such.

His situation is nearly untenable. He leads the House tax-writing committee, yet he acknowledges that he failed to report about $75,000 in rental income on his beach house in the Dominican Republic. He owes about $5,000 to the IRS in back taxes on that income and somewhat less in state and local taxes. Rangel also says he did not know he received a no-interest mortgage from the developers of the Dominican resort. In addition, financial discrepancies have turned up in disclosure documents he has filed.

It’s all too much for a congressman with such influence over federal tax policy. Indeed, were Republicans still in the majority, Rangel and his compatriots would be clamoring for the head of a committee chairman with these problems — as GOP critics are calling for Rangel’s.

Of course, Rangel refuses to step down, which is pretty typical of a Democrat. If a Republican were in the same situation, Nancy Pelosi would be demanding resignations and calling for investigations, but with a member of her own party, she’s letting it slide.

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Nancy Pelosi may be publicly supporting Charlie Rangel by saying she won’t ask him to step aside, but the New York Post says sources tell them that privately, Pelosi is urging Rangel to step aside.

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 wellplaced source said.

[...]

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.

 If Pelosi doesn’t ask Rangel to step aside as chairman, then John McCain stands to benefit significantly, as he supports the fact that unlike his fellow Democrats, he’s willing to target corruption within his own party. As the Democrats’ presidential nominee, Barack Obama should have called for Rangel to step aside when the allegations first surfaced. But, he didn’t, thus missing his chance to match his rhetoric with actions. But then again, when your campaign is based on slogans over substance, what else were we to expect?

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The New York Post reveals that for the past 20 years, Rep. Charles Rangel “has owned a beachfront villa in a sun-drenched Dominican Republic resort, yet has only sporadically declared income on the property in federal filings.”

This revelation, in addition to other ethical questions he’s faced in recent months, certainly explain why the DNC gave back the $100,000 he donated to them, and also may revive calls for Jon Powers to return the money he’s received from the embattled congressman from Harlem.

 While the villa was rented to paying guests for the past two years, for instance, Rangel reported no income from it in 2006 and 2007, The Post has learned. As a congressman, failure to fully list all income and investments can result in civil penalties or criminal charges.

The powerful Ways and Means Committee chairman, a Democrat, owns “casita” No. 412 on the Caribbean Sea at the Punta Cana Hotel, on the lush eastern tip of the country, where he is affectionately known as “el senador.”

His three-bedroom, three-bath villa, which can accommodate three couples, is rented for between $500 in the low season to $1,100 a night in the busiest tourist season and is one of the resort’s most popular, managers and staff say.

“You are requesting the best casita on the beach,” a reservations manager told a Post reporter posing as a customer.

“We are always booked solid on that one between December 15 and April 15. It is always the first one to go,” he said.

The 78-year-old Rangel’s stone-covered cottage - which boasts flat-screen TVs and a panoramic ocean view - was open to hotel guests in the past two years, General Manager Carolina Jones told The Post.

“It’s part of the hotel operation. It’s available to customers at all times,” Jones said of No. 412. Typically, the owners of the casitas earn 80 percent of any rental income, staff said. 

However, Rangel’s financial disclosure forms, which he is required to file annually, doesn’t list any income for that time he clearly was. Last week Rangel was asked about villa, and declared “I have not received any rental income.” 

Even though all members of congress are required to declare their earnings, Rangel refused to answer more questions on the matter saying ”I think that’s a private matter.” 

The DNC already returned the dirty money they received from Charles Rangel. When will Jon Powers do the same?

UPDATE: The Jon Powers campaign has not returned my message for a comment.

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According to a press release I just received, Erie County Republican Party Chairman Jim Domagalski is calling on congressional candidate Jon Powers to return contributions he received from Rep. Charles Rangel, following today’s New York Times story on a number of Rangel’s sweetheart real estate deals.

In light of today’s New York Times article highlighting Rep. Charlie Rangel’s sweatheart [sic] real estate deals Erie County Republican Chairman James P. Domagalski called on Congressional candidate Jon Powers to show “leadership by example” and return Congressman Rangel’s $9,000 in campaign contributions.
 
“At a time when many Western New York families are being hit by the housing crisis Jon Powers is taking campaign contributions from a senior Democrat Congressman who now appears to have taken sweatheart real estate deals,” said Domagalski.  “Jon Powers should cancel his upcoming fundraiser with Rangel and return his campaign contributions.”

According to the New York Times story:

While aggressive evictions are reducing the number of rent-stabilized apartments in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent units on the 16th floor overlooking Upper Manhattan in a building owned by one of New York’s premier real estate developers.

Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.

Jon Powers has scheduled a joint fundraising event with Rep. Rangel, according to Roll Call. 

I’m not counting on Jon Powers to return the contributions. Rangel himself refused to return thousands of dollars in Abramoff-connected cash he received at the height of the Abramoff scandal. Though, when Powers himself violated election laws for using campaign cash to pay his rent, he did pay the money back… but there a difference between a legal obligation and a moral/ethical one. Democrats have a long record of ignoring both, and as Powers continues to become more and more like his Democrat colleagues in Congress, the chances of him doing the right thing are significantly reduced.

So, what will Jon “Lead By Example” Powers do?

UPDATE: Rangel: Not unfair to have 4 rent-stabilized apts

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Gotta love it.

NO DOUBT, when Eliot Spitzer was attorney general - or, as he was more fondly called, the Sheriff of Wall Street - you know he expected his high-profile cases to be turned into thinly disguised episodes of “Law & Order.”

Tomorrow night, he gets his wish - in spades. Too bad it’s not the scenario as it played out in real life.

For sure, back in the glory days, Eliot-the-Idiot was thinking it would be about his fight against Dick Grasso, king of the New York Stock Exchange. He wasn’t dreaming that “his” “Law & Order” ripped-from-the-headlines episode would be the one about a New York governor and a hooker.

As amusing as this is, I still won’t end up watching it. The real story was pathetic enough.

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Plea Expected in Prostitution Ring Used by Spitzer

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Jon Powers, one of the Democrats running for Tom Reynolds congressional seat, violated election laws charging his own campaign “thousands of dollars for renting part of his residence.”.

Campaign documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show his campaign paid $500 rent in January to Powers for space in his Williamsville home. According to a 2000 advisory opinion from the agency, it is a violation of FEC rules for a campaign to pay rent for space in a candidate’s home.

Now that his illegal actions have been caught, Powers will reimburse the campaign.

Isn’t that nice?

According to Powers’ campaign website, part of his “plan for the future” is to “clean up Washington.” Perhaps he should clean up his own act before he starts lecturing about cleaning up Washington.

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I’ve had my own experience with union thugs, so I can’t say this story surprises me one bit.

Construction union thugs used the state Department of Motor Vehicles database to target nonmember workers and their families for violence, property damage and threats of sexual assault, federal officials said Tuesday as they announced the arrests of 12 union leaders and members.

The president of Operating Engineers Local 17, Mark Kirsch, and several other high-ranking officials and members were charged with extortion and racketeering in an eight-count indictment detailing a 10-year reign authorities said stunted economic growth in a struggling part of the state.

“At the end of the day, it cost the job sites and the developers and the workers millions of dollars in property damage, millions of dollars in lost jobs,” U.S. Attorney Terrance Flynn said.

At job sites big and small where non-Local 17 members were hired, union members caused more than $1 million in damage to more than 40 pieces of heavy machinery by pouring sand and grinding compound into the oil systems, breaking windows, destroying tires and cutting fuel lines, investigators said.

The investigation has been going on since 2003, and criminal activity has ben uncovered dating from the present all the way back to 1997. Maybe now people will realize that unions are corrupt and have too much power. It’s time to do something about this, because I am sure there’s a lot more out there we don’t know about yet.

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The latest chapter in troopergate scandal has the investigators being investigated.

A little-known but powerful state agency with broad powers to ferret out wrongdoing in government said today it has begun an investigation into how at least three different state and local agencies handled their probes of the Spitzer administration’s attempt to smear a political rival with the help of the State Police.

Albany County District Attorney David Soares, for instance, cleared Eliot Spitzer of wrongdoing in his original probe of Troopergate last year, but in a new report last week concluded that Spitzer was heavily involved in the effort against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

In addition, various questions have been raised about the closeness of the two state agencies — Public Integrity and the Inspector General — because Spitzer appointees control those agencies, neither of which has interviewed Spitzer about his role.

The state Commission of Investigation, created by Gov. Thomas Dewey in 1951 to look into political corruption cases, can use its subpoena powers to look into the how effectively the state ethics agency, the state inspector general and the Albany County district attorney handled the scandal known in Albany.

“Let me be clear. The commission is not investigating the events concerning troopergate; more than enough investigations of the issues surrounding those events have taken or are taking place,” SIC Chairman Alfred D. Lerner said in a written statement this morning.

“Rather, the commission is investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts, including those of the Albany County district attorney, the state inspector general and the state Commission on Public Integrity,” he said.

It will be interesting to see how this investigation pans out. Soares has already been accused of sitting on information that Spitzer had lied about his role in the Troopergate scandal… something tells me Soares is in real trouble.

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