What A Tangled Web Charlie Weaves...

Now he’s getting downright blatant – federal records show that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) paid $57,500 from a campaign account to his son’s web design company for modifications to the representative’s internet page (addition of a Donate NOW radio button, no doubt) over a two year period – the highest amount of any other House member during the same period. And while using campaign funds to pay relatives technically isn’t illegal, it is indicative of why the American public hates Congress.

Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is already in hot water with the House Ethics Committee (har!) for possible tax improprieties, including charges that he improperly used a rent-subsidized New York apartment as his office; and that he failed to disclose rental income from a luxury villa in the Dominican Republic purchased in part with loans from a lobbyist. Rangel’s defense – he wasn’t aware of the implications of his activities, as his work on Ways and Means (you know, the body that writes the tax code) prevented him from understanding tax laws.

We have our own Untouchable here in Philly; and as is usually the case, karma will eventually catch up.