Some Congressional Democrats Now Calling for Rangel's Resignation
Strangely, that headline is indeed correct. In the latest twist in the saga of Congressman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., at least six House Democrats have, in some fashion, called for his resignation. The six include Reps. Mary Jo Kilroy from Ohio, Ann Kirkpatrick from Arizona, Walter Minnick from Idaho, Zack Space from Ohio, Betty Sutton from Ohio, and John Yarmuth from Kentucky.
Just to back up a step, for anyone who has either been living under a rock or has been in denial lately, 13 charges have been brought against the Congressman by the House Ethics Committee, which include accusations that he received contributions from individuals with business before the House Ways and Means Committee, which Rangel formerly chaired. He has also been accused of "Conduct in violation of Code of Ethics for Government Service," or in more familiar terms, he initially failed to pay taxes on rental income he received from a unit at a resort property in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Taxes on this income were eventually paid when he was called out on the situation, and he filed amended returns.
While at least six of his Democratic colleagues have insisted on nothing short of his resignation, Rangel still has a fair number of supporters, including the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., who recently stated, "He indicated there was some sloppiness (in his official papers), but...there's no criminality here." Well crap...once again, I have to plead ignorance since Towns, who is obviously much smarter than I, since he's, like, in Congress and stuff, has apparently implied that there was no wrongdoing on his buddy Charlie's part. So this means the next time I take a vacation, I'm going to the Dominican Republic to purchase some rental unit, and then I'm just going to conveniently forget to pay taxes on any profit I make off it. That's it. I'll tell the IRS I was just "sloppy" with my records, and they'll totally understand...only not at all. What Towns has seemingly failed to realize is that if any of us not in the House or Senate did this, we'd have a nice, cozy jail cell next to Bernie Madoff.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati