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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Isn’t it great that Nancy Pelosi, who promised to lead the most open, honest and ethical Congress in history, won’t strip Charlie Rangel of his chairmanship?

Even when Rep. Charles Rangel tries to explain how he got into his tax mess, he mangles the facts so much it’s easy to see how his accounts - and accountants - are muddled. And this from the lawmaker who has such a big say in determining who pays taxes and how much.

The chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee spent the past week reeling from a series of embarrassing revelations: He failed to report about $75,000 in rental income over two decades from a beach villa he owns in the Dominican Republic; he owes about $5,000 in back taxes to the government; he never knew he paid no interest on the villa’s mortgage for more than a decade.

Rangel’s actions are not just innocent omissions or minor blunders. There is no excuse. He needs to either step down or be stripped of his chairmanship.

Rangel’s basic defense is that he paid little or no attention to a building he bought, the mortgage he got to buy it or the rent it earned to pay the mortgage. Or the taxes due on someone else paying his mortgage. He claims to have no idea what the house is even worth.

Davis says that will change now that he has hired a second lawyer to monitor “all his tax and financial statements going forward and be sure they are meticulously correct.”

Republicans say Rangel had to have known exactly what he was doing.

“It is a sick irony that the top legislator on tax policy in the House is circumventing the very tax laws that he himself has authored,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the GOP’s House campaign committee.

The fact that he is being protected by his party should bother all voters, regardless of whether they’re a Republican or Democrat. We’re supposed to expect more of our political leaders and hold them to a higher standard. Charlie Rangel has violated the trust of his constituents and the American people. 

UPDATE: Even the New York Times is calling on Rangel to step aside.

Mounting embarrassment for taxpayers and Congress makes it imperative that Representative Charles Rangel step aside as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee while his ethical problems are investigated.

[...]

Mr. Rangel has hurt his case with clumsy, combative pleas of ignorance of the facts and law involving his Dominican villa. “We do make errors, even though we consider ourselves experts in terms of tax policy for the nation,” said the lawmaker, who has three decades’ experience on Ways and Means.

His excuse of “cultural and language barriers” with Dominican officials was, simply, offensive. “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” complained Mr. Rangel.

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses. For once, I agree with the New York Times. Mr. Rangel, step aside.

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The New York Times has now reported on Charles Rangel’s ethical lapse in failing to report income he earned on the rental property he owns in the Dominican Republic.

In the aftermath of the 2005-2006 mad rush by members of Congress to square all their travel reports and other required filings, one would think that Charles Rangel, even after his party returned to the majority, would have kept his financial filings on the level instead of trying to hide sources of income.

His ethical lapses are one thing, for sure, but what really got me about this article was his lack of ability to take responsibility for his actions, and instead threw his wife and his accountant under the bus:

[Rangel's lawyer Lanny] Davis said the congressman did not realize he had to declare the money as income, and was unaware of the semiannual payments from the resort because his wife, Alma, handled the family finances and conferred with their accountant, John Viardi, on tax matters. 

Pathetic.

But even more pathetic is that Mr. Jon Powers, who claims he wants to change Washington, has yet to return the dirty money he’s received from Charles Rangel. The DNC returned $100,000 they received from Rangel, shouldn’t Jon Powers do the same?

UPDATE: The Associated Press also reports that Charles Rangel paid no mortgage interest on his Dominican Republic villa for over a decade.

The New York congressman’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, told The Associated Press that Rangel got his no-interest deal for the villa in the Dominican Republic because he was an original buyer in the resort development, and in the early days after Rangel’s 1987 purchase the rental income it generated failed to meet expectations.

Punta Cana Yacht Club director Jose Oliva issued a letter stating that they initially charged interest on the loans to Rangel and a small group of fellow investors called “Pioneers,” but after two years the company stopped charging interest because of the lower-than-expected rental income. The removal of interest charges was extended only to the foreign investors, Oliva said.

Earlier in the day, the congressman’s lawyer said Rangel paid no interest at all on the mortgage, but later said company records show there was interest paid in the first two years.

Davis said Rangel did not know until very recently he had not been charged interest for more than a decade.

“Mr. Rangel received no special preference,” said Davis.

The Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means tax-writing committee has come under scrutiny for his vacation property and apartments he rents in his home district of Harlem. 

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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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The Democratic National Committee, under the guise of refusing PAC money, is returning a $100,000 donation from Charlie Rangel, who, as we reported a while back, is having some ethical issues right now.

The Democratic National Committee is returning a $100,000 donation from embattled Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel made at his birthday fundraiser, saying it goes against a Team Obama ban on PAC money, The Post has learned.

Rangel presented the donation to DNC chairman Howard Dean at the gala at Tavern on the Green a few weeks ago.

But the DNC is returning it because it stopped taking PAC money once Sen. Barack Obama, who has a rule against taking most PAC money, became the presumptive nominee, officials said.

The idea that this has anything to do with PAC money is absurd, of course, so, one has to wonder, why, in a presidential election year, would the Democrats really choose to wash their hands of that much needed cash? Are Charlie Rangel’s troubles soon to be getting worse, and is the DNC preemptively avoiding any issues by dumping the cash now? 

Now, it’s been over a month since Jim Domagalski and Henry Wojtaszek called on Jon Powers to return the tainted contributions he received from Charlie Rangel… Now that the DNC has returned the tainted cash they received, isn’t it about time Jon Powers did the same?

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Today, Henry Wojtaszek, the Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman called on Jon Powers to return contributions from Congressman Charlie Rangel, who was recently revealed to have received sweetheart rent deals and accused of violating campaign finance laws.  Rangel has donated $9,000 to Powers, and they are to appear a fundraiser together in August.

 ”Powers isn’t leading by example; he’s following the model of a typical politician.  His ties to career politicians like Rangel, his illegal use of campaign funds, and his questionable acceptance of contributions from outside our district are indicative of the corruption and dishonesty of D.C. insiders,” said Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman, Henry Wojtaszek. “The voters of Western New York deserve a candidate who will bring real leadership and real change, not more of the same Washington politics.  It’s time for Jon Powers to come clean, and give Western New Yorkers an answer about his fundraiser and contributions.”

Wojtaszek was also critical of Power’s fundraising and spending:

In addition to Powers’ questionable ties to Rangel, Powers recent fundraising report shows that nearly half of his reported contributions came from outside New York State. Powers filing shows large contributions from San Francisco, Massachusetts, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Additionally, Powers spent more than $15,000 on travel to places other than Western New York.

Wojtaszek said, “Powers has claimed to have a lot of ‘grassroots’ support from the district, but his contribution filings show otherwise. It’s another example of Powers’ hypocrisy by example. It’s been a week of silence since Powers was asked about his contributions from Rangel and his fundraiser with Rangel. It’s time for an answer and for Powers to give back the money and cancel his fundraiser.”

I’m not holding my breath on that one. While Jon Powers has said constantly that he would lead by example he never said that it would be a good example.

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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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