If It's Chuckie Rangel, It's Got to be Good

[HoleInTheVoid]

WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel acknowledged yesterday he may have violated House ethics rules when he used congressional stationery to solicit donations for a Harlem "center for public service" that will be named after him.

Rangel has used his office letterhead to try to raise funds for the controversial center in Harlem from Donald Trump, Hank Greenberg, the former head of the AIG insurance giant, and others, it was revealed yesterday - even though congressional rules bar the stationery from being used for solicitations.

"The entire thing appears dicey, and there's no question that, as soon as I can, I'm going to take a look at it," Rangel said following a report in yesterday's Washington Post exposing the practice.

The Post reported last year that Rangel sent letters asking for donations for the Charles B. Rangel Center to several potential corporate donors with business before his committee.

Last year, Rangel's office provided The Post with a list of some of the donations he had already helped secure for the project, which included $10 million from AIG; $500,000 from the Verizon Foundation; and $1 million from Eugene Isenberg, CEO of energy firm Nabors Industries.

CHARLES RANGEL ADMITS TO USING CONGRESSIONAL STATIONARY TO SOLICIT DONATIONS FOR HARLEM CENTER - New York Post
Quick, someone remind me: didn't AIG make the news recently?

You see, Chuckie is the chairman of the House Ways & Means committee, which means he's the way ermarks get doled-out.

And yes, this would be the same Chuckie that "flubbed" his taxes for TEN years.

House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel of New York admitted last week that in recent years he has underpaid his taxes by about $10,000. Republicans are demanding that he step down as chairman pending an Ethics Committee investigation, but we're more sympathetic. Charlie is a victim of the tax code he helped to write.

His lawyer says Mr. Rangel flubbed his tax return by failing to record some $75,000 of rental income he received from a beach house he owns at a posh Dominican Republic resort. Mr. Rangel professes to have made an honest mistake, and says "I personally feel that I have done nothing morally wrong." He explained that he didn't know how much income he received from the property because his Dominican business partners would "start speaking Spanish."

The Education of Charlie Rangel - WSJ.com