Well, well, well, lookee here: the New York Times actually makes a good call for once. That's right, the New York Times is calling for Youngstown John's bestest buddy in the whole wide world -- Rep. Charlie Rangel -- to step down from his post as Chairman of the influential and powerful Ways and Means Committee.
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.Of course, the Old Gray Lady doesn't go so far as to suggest that Rangel ought to resign his seat in Congress...which is what they'd be doing if we were talking about a Republican with a record like Rangel's.
This recommendation does not come easily, considering the New York Democrat’s four decades of service in Congress. But Mr. Rangel himself has felt obliged to request three separate House ethics inquiries of his behavior. While denying serious improprieties, Mr. Rangel concedes that he has not lived up to the “higher standard” expected of members of Congress.
His latest admission is that as chief of Congress’s tax-writing committee, he was “irresponsible” in failing to disclose $75,000 in rental income and pay federal and state taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic.
At any rate, nobody in Ohio really cares about what's going on with yet another corrupt Member of Congress who happens to be from New York. Let's remember who Rep. Rangel has been supporting here in Ohio: Youngstown John Boccieri. You can read all about that exchange of dirty money right here on WMD.
I just wanted to thank the New York Times for giving me another opportunity to bring that story back up from the archives.
