Broder joins the dump Rangel bandwagon

David Broder, welcome aboard the dump Rangel bandwagon.

Broder writes in his column this morning

Rangel ... has been busy of late revising and amending the record, backing and filling, using buckets of Wite-Out as he discovers or remembers properties he has owned in New York, New Jersey, Florida, the Dominican Republic and God only knows where else -- and has forgotten or neglected to fully report on the required forms, not to mention the income from them. Oops!

Rangel recently even discovered bank accounts that no one in the world, apparently including him, knew he had. One was with the Congressional Federal Credit Union; another was with Merrill Lynch -- each valued between $250,000 and $500,000. He somehow neglected to mention these accounts on his congressional disclosure forms, which means, if you can believe it, that when he signed the forms, he did not notice that maybe $1 million was missing.

...There is something wrong with Charlie Rangel. Either he did not notice that he was worth about twice as much as he said he was -- which is downright worrisome in a congressional leader -- or he thinks that he's above the law, which is downright worrisome in a congressional leader.

Democrats keep Rep. Rangel as a committee chair--the tax writing committee, no less--at their own peril. Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives in 2006 in no small part due to public disgust at Republican corruption. Several Democrats, including Rep. Rangel, seemed determined to wallow in that same mud pit.

Yet another problem for Rep. Rangel

The Washington Post reports today that

D.C. officials say that Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who recently has been buffeted by questions about his personal taxes and real estate dealings, was incorrectly given a tax break on a house he owned in the District.

Rangel received the "homestead exemption," a property tax break for people who live in a permanent, primary home in the city.

When asked about his numerous shady tax and real estate issues, Rep. Rangel "said that he did nothing 'morally wrong' and that, at worst, he could be accused of sloppy record-keeping."

Rep. Rangel is either as inept as he claims, dishonest and a cheat, or some combination of these. Either way he has shown himself, now for yet another time, to be unsuited for the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. Rangel "flat" out wrong

Like many New York City residents, Rep. Charles Rangel benefits from the city's rent control laws. However, unlike other residents, he has four rent-controlled apartments: three grouped together to form a suite and another on a separate floor that serves as his office.

Rep. Rangel's cozy arrangement violates both the spirit and letter of the city's rent control law, which is intended to make residences there more affordable. In particular, rent-control is only supposed to apply to residences. He also appears to be violating House ethics rules that ban representatives from accepting gifts in excess of $100. The difference between the controlled rents that his landlord has agreed to accept and the fair market rents for his units is several thousand dollars per month and should be rightly viewed as a gift.

Rep. Rangel should "get his house in order" by ending this arrangement immediately, and the House ethics panel should do likewise by investigating and determining an appropriate disciplinary action. Come November, the voters of New York will have an opportunity to decide whether additional "House cleaning" is needed and whether Mr. Rangel should have more time to putter around his inexpensive digs.