Rangel's 30 Years of Fuzzy Math

What with tax cheats being all the rage, one wonders how Charlie Rangel avoided an Obama cabinet appointment?

The financial-disclosure forms filed over the past three decades by Rep. Charles Rangel are full of fuzzy math, according to an exhaustive review released yesterday.

The nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation identified 28 separate instances within Rangel's 30 years of congressionally mandated filings where, it says, he failed to report acquiring, owning or disposing of assets.

The new report could add more woes for the powerful Democrat, already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over his finances and possible abuse of authority.

Well, he's been "under investigation" for six months now and nothing has happened other than stonewalling by Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats. Why do they tolerate criminals in their midst?

"Assets worth between $239,026 and $831,000 appear or disappear with no disclosure of when they were acquired, how long they were held, or when they were sold," foundation researchers wrote after poring through Rangel's filings from 1978 to the present.

"In his calendar year 2006 filing, for example, Rangel reported 13 investments, mostly in mutual funds, which he valued in a range between $54,013 and $286,000, without indicating when he acquired them," the researchers wrote.

"In that same year, a quartet of assets that he reported acquiring in 2004 and worth between $95,004 and $250,000 disappeared from his filing without any indication of whether they were sold or exchanged."

Rangel dismissed the report as a "cheap political stunt."

"The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is currently reviewing these matters at Chairman Rangel's request and that bipartisan committee will look at the House rules and make its judgments," said spokesman Emile Milne.

How much longer can this bipartisan investigation be dragged out?

Maybe by April 15 we can have some resolution.

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