Rangel Cops Coveted 'Mighty Windbag Award'

Porky the Windbag

Could there ever be a more appropriately named honor than giving the unctuous Charles Rangle the Mighty Windbag Award? Heck, when this noxious gasbag finally retires, they should name the award in his honor.

Rep. Charles Rangel was given the "Mighty Windbag Award" yesterday by a taxpayer group for his effort to secure almost $50,000 to put a windmill on a Harlem building.

The embattled Rangel was singled out for the dubious honor while also winning his second "Oinker" award in two years for pigging out on what the group deemed pork-barrel waste.

Citizens Against Government Waste cited Rangel's $47,575 "earmark" to help create a wind-power project at the Harlem United Community AIDS Center on West 124th Street.

According the request letter that Harlem United sent to Rangel, the money will go to install New York's first room-mounted windmills to power a housing project for AIDS patients. The letter said that the windmills will save the organization 10 percent a year on electricity costs.

Rangel stood behind his earmark yesterday, saying he's happy to take credit for helping a worthy organization act in an environmentally responsible way.

The surprise here is he didn't put the windmill on top of the lavish four-apartment rent-controlled spread he has.

Rangel is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for failing to pay taxes on or to disclose income, occupying several rent-controlled New York apartments, and other lapses.

Last year, Rangel was awarded the "Narcissist Oinker Award" for his earmark providing almost $2 million to an uptown educational program called the Charles B. Rangel Center.

The awards are released as part of the annual "Pig Book," which details the thousands of earmarks each year.

According to the book, New York state was fifth in the nation for bringing in pork-project money.

If the $326 million in New York earmarks is figured per capita, however, the state is only 48th out of 50.

The New York City area's top porker for this fiscal year was Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens), who was identified as a sponsor of $52.8 million.

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