In a parallel universe situation reminiscent of something that would come out of Babylon 5, Jerry Brown will be announcing that he's running for governor of California. Here's the weird thing: we noted in February of 2009, or 13 calendar months ago using the regular calendar, that he was running. I guess this is the "formal" thing. He's been being polled all along, and he's done well: last September, he was winning. In Republican polling a couple weeks ago, Brown was dead even with Meg Whitman. He'll do even better once he gets going.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a big fan of Jerry Brown. Met him back in 1976, and he's smarter and more impressive then his "Governor Moonbeam" press might indicate.
Moving across the country: it did not go unnoticed in Jessville that the House is going to slap Charlie Rangel's hands. It's called "formal admonishment", and will occur on Friday. It's offensive. They nailed him for misusing funds for a trip. That other Congressmen went on. That was approved. Is he guilty of that? Yeah, sure, and he'll give back some money. BUT...Charlie is REALLY guilty of serious misuse of funds: the housing in violation of New York City rent control laws, the tax problems with his Caribbean properties, the outright bribe money.....plus the parking tickets....(lots of links here). They nailed him for something minor to avoid having to deal with more legitimate and serious charges, and thus not have to censure him. Or worse.
And finally, people have been asking me how an earthquake in Chile that was 500 times worse than the one in Haiti could cause so much less damage and loss of life. I don't know why people ask me these things...but in case you were wondering, it's because they have a functional government in Chile. That means organization, response, infrastructure. Yes, it's also that the quake was much deeper and offshore and away from populated areas. But no matter what the disaster, the response matters. In Chile, people were allowed to "loot" grocery stores while waiting for aid, and the government will make payments to the stores. (No TVs, though....bravo to the Chileans to realize that finding food when you're hungry is very different from stealing.) Is the Chilean earthquake a terrible tragedy? Absolutely, but the recovery will be quicker and easier because of a functioning government.
If you've been keeping up with Charlie, you have just got to love this:
Yesterday, Rangel received the Order of Jamaica, for his for "outstanding contribution in promoting the interests of Jamaica and the Caribbean," as the Jamaican government put it in a statement.
Rangel, who chairs the House's top tax-writing body, is under investigation by the House Ethics committee in connection with a slew of financial improprieties. One of those is that he and other lawmakers took trips to the Caribbean that were sponsored by corporate lobbyists. The trips were officially organized by a group called the Carib News Foundation, and may have violated a Congressional ban on corporate-funded travel.
On Wednesday, the Democratic-majority Congress short-circuited a floor vote on stripping Rangel of the chairmanship, instead referring the GOP-backed resolution to the ethics committee, which has already been looking into the raft of allegations made against him at Rangel's request.
The legendary Rangel, who has been on Capitol Hill since 1971, is a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus and wields his power with the unapologetic glee of a lawmaker who has spent years fighting for it. But the move signals that the GOP will try to make Rangel a liability for fellow Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections, characterizing any votes supporting him keeping his committee akin to supporting congressional corruption. Democrats in close races could also face demands that they return campaign funds from Rangel.
We've detailed in the past the many, many challenges of Charlie Rangel. (Some of the collection here, here, here, and here.)
And there's no doubt the IIE WILL try to keep a spotlight on him: they even tried to pass "The Rangel Rule" earlier this year, although it never came to the floor.
If I were the IIE, I'd follow the same tact. Look at this list: Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Mitch McConnell, David Vitter, Vern Buchanan, Ken Calvert, Nathan Deal, Jerry Lewis (the rep from California, not the comic), not to mention the I-can't-believe-they-didn't-indict-him-yet Don Young. If it were me, I'd try to deflect, deflect, deflect.
As an aside, Tom Delay is off of that dancing TV show: and he IS under current indictment.
It's not going to work. The corruption, tax evasion and abuse of power that Charlie Rangel is guilty of are personal. That is, it's not part of an ingrained program. Some things are just extreme and ON the person: like William "Cash" Jefferson. NO ONE thinks that every Democrat has $90,000 in cold cash in the freezer. He was guilty, found guilty by the court, and is getting what he deserves. Charlie is guilty of lots of things, and eventually it will be time to pay the piper.
The IIE, however, exhibits a pattern of speaking moral high ground, and failing in every way. We're never surprised when yet another one is found to have a mistress or two. (VITO!!! not to mention New Gingrich.) Or a boy on the side. (Hi! Mark Foley: you only think we forget.) We're never surprised when they're tied to lobbyists in each and every way. Nor when they fix elections (one of Tom Delay's indictments). Or are found guilty of corruption (yes, Ted Stevens, you might have gotten off on a technicality, but you were guilty.)
The whole thing reminds me of a poem:
I am rubber, you are glue - It bounces off me and sticks to you.
In a perfect world, Charlie would resign as soon as health care passes (he heads Ways and Means) and remove himself from the spotlight so we can focus on the real criminals. But this is an imperfect world.
The serious side: Charlie Rangel was interviewed about health care reform by MSNBC and said:
"Everyone knows that people around the table are stealing, but they don't want to turn each other in if they're going to have to pay the full penalty," said Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Asked in an interview on MSNBC what he meant by stealing, the New York Democrat replied, "I mean stealing."
He later specified big pharma as an example.
Now, the Congressman is right. The thievery of big phrarma knows no bounds. And before you talk about how they need to cover drug development costs, tell me about it AFTER you list out the multi-million dollar expenditures on the execs, boards, advertising campaigns and especially how much they spend developing drugs for "conditions" that didn't exist until there was a drug created for them.
However, I can't resist the associated snark. And I apologize in advance. It's all in how you define "theft." If you don't pay your taxes, is that "stealing" from the Federal government, or just gaming the system? What about unpaid parking tickets? Pots and kettles.
Tax season is well under way, and embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel — a man who has had, ahem, some trouble with the IRS — has inspired legislation that could have taxpayers everywhere jumping for joy.
Introduced on Wednesday by Rep. John Carter, the Rangel Rule Act would amend the tax code to allow any U.S. citizen who writes the phrase “Rangel Rule” on the top of their tax return to be exempt from penalties or interest on any back taxes they might have to pay.
The Texas Republican says he was inspired to pen the measure after learning Rangel hadn’t paid any penalties or interest on the $10,000 worth of back taxes he owed from rental income on a Caribbean property. While Rangel did eventually pay the back taxes, it remains unclear if he ever will pay any penalties.
I thought this might be an early April Fool's joke, but no, it's actually HR 735.
First, Rod is back in the news. Yesterday, he didn't file a plea in his impeachment trial, and now we know why. He said:
"The impeachment trial is a sham"
His reason? He claimed that he was not being afforded the opportunity to call witnesses. Now, I have defended the right of Rod to do his job, because I believe in process. But here, he's definitely wrong, since the reason he can't call any witnesses is because he ignored the deadline to submit the paperwork TO call witnesses.
It turns out that the "sham" comment is just bluster. He fully expects to be ousted next week.
In related news, it seems the FBI wiretaps may bring down DC political consulting firm Peter D. Hart Research Group Associates.
Remember Charlie Rangel? Ethics and potential legal problems; four rent controlled apartments, one used for a campaign HQ; the Carribean condo; the son with the poor website design...You remember.
We can talk about how we, who contribute, would like our campaign contributions spent. My personal choices are things like office space, advertising, salaries, polling, pizza for the volunteers, phones, things like that. But personal parking tickets of the candidate? Not so much.
For starters, I'm pissed that Rangel has rung up more than $2,000 in parking tickets in the past 7 years. Plus, it's escalating, since over $1,500 of those tickets were acquired in the past two years. One, for $30, is still outstanding. For what he earns.......
Although, he's not the only one. The expense is listed as "automobile expense."
Yesterday, Charlie Rangel (D-NY) was refusing to step down as Ways and Means Chair while the ethics investigation was going on. Well, the investigation just got bigger. Politico is reporting that:
The House ethics committee has voted to expand its investigation of Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) to include allegations that he helped a $1 million donor to the Charles B. Rangel Center at the City College of New York retain a lucrative tax loophole.
The big problem is that with the expanded scope of the investigation, it may well not wrap by close of term. If it goes into next year, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has a real problem. "Ways and Means" means taxes and health care legislation. Having a Chair under investigation was going to be bad, but with Blagojevich on the front page, it's a disaster, as it plays into the "culture of corruption" the GOP will attempt to pin on the Democrats. (Side note: Ted Stevens, Duke Cunningham, Larry Craig, Tom Delay, Mark Foley, Scooter Libby, Vito! and as yet unindicted co-conspirators Baby Bush and Dick, the Prince of Darkness. Sorry, couldn't help myself.)
Pelosi has always been supportive of Charlie, but it's hard to see if she can leave him in place come January. While he may end up passing muster with the House ethics committee, the courts in NY are likely not going to let it go quickly. With Blago now the poster child for absolute insane stupidity, and certainly guilty, the party cannot afford another public lightening rod.
You know that Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has been accused of ethics problems, and some of them might be actually legally actionable. He welcomes the investigation, but it turns out he is unwilling to step down as the House Chair of Ways and Means, as urged in a Washington Posteditorial.
"I don't see what purpose that would serve. I don't think reporters should be in the position of removing Chairmen."
Lashing out at the most recent report appearing in Politico that Rangel paid his son $80,000 to design his campaign Web site, a fee that experts say was legal but excessively high, Rangel said, "I think the reporter should crawl from under his rock and apologize to my son."
That web site was valued by an expert at about $100.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg still considers Charlie a valuable asset to New York City. Then again, for all the good we can say about Mayor Mike, he was VITO!'s biggest financial backer. For years.
If you've been keeping up with Charlie, you have just got to love 
Remember Charlie Rangel? Ethics and potential legal problems; four rent controlled apartments, one used for a campaign HQ; the Carribean condo; the son with the poor website design...You remember.
