They Did It For the Children

Who's the genius who invited this anti-Semitic creep to speak to high schoolers in the first place? It's not as if too many of them would know who this relic from the Eisenhower administration is to begin with. On the upside, now the kiddies won't have to shield their eyes or run in horror.

Veteran journalist Helen Thomas, who recently made controversial comments about Israel and Palestine, agreed Sunday not to appear as commencement speaker at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda.

Alan Goodwin, principal of Whitman, where objections to the appearance had been raised, said he reached a niece of Thomas's earlier in the day. "We had a mutual understanding about her not coming," he said.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin said in an e-mail to Whitman parents. "Graduation is the time for a cohesive and joyous celebration of our students' achievements," he wrote.

Not a place for divisiveness? Then why did they invite her to begin with? It's not as if she's been impartial any time the past five decades.

Thomas, 89, who has covered the White House for decades, provoked criticism by her response in an impromptu video interview that was posted online. In a brief comment, she said Israelis should "get the hell" out of Palestine and go to places including Poland, Germany and the United States.

In an interview, Whitman parent Raisa Slepoy said, "I don't know why anybody would ask a person like that to speak at a commencement ceremony . . . especially where there's a pretty large Jewish population."

If Thomas had appeared, Slepoy said, there would "be a lot of people booing her off the stage. . . . It would be an embarrassment."

Meanwhile, Thomas has been dumped by her PR agency. Former Clinton White House Counsel Lanny Davis unloaded on her.

“Helen Thomas, who I used to consider a close friend and who I used to respect, has showed herself to be an anti-Semitic bigot. This is not about her disagreement about her criticisms of Israel. She has a right to criticize Israel and that is not the same as being an anti-Semite,” Davis said in a statement.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

Update: Thomas has resigned. Martyrdom to follow.

Rangel Still Breaking the Law

It's been several months now since it was discovered Charles Rangel had some major tax problems, but to date nothing has been done. Now he's just running out the clock as Democrats will soon be in charge of everything and he'll be more powerful than ever.

If he were a Republican he'd already have been forced to resign and would likely be in prison.

In fact, by the time this "investigation" concludes, it'll probably be the whistleblowers facing jail time.

For what it's worth, now it's disclosed Rangel has been using campaign funds to pay off his high-priced lawyers to make this mess go away.

Rep. Charles Rangel has not hired the forensic accountant he said he needed in order to provide answers regarding his messy tax records, The Post has learned.

Meanwhile, the Harlem Democrat has paid more than $120,000 in campaign money to a law firm to represent him in the scandal.

Rangel, the powerful chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, paid $121,436 in fees to the Chicago office of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe on Oct. 1. The payment came from his campaign fund, Rangel for Congress.

One of the law firm's partners, Washington-based Lanny Davis, was hired shortly after The Post revealed in August that Rangel had not disclosed rental income on a Dominican Republic beachfront villa.

Federal Election Commission rules prohibit elected officials from using campaign funds for personal legal expenses, and review such expenses on a case-by-case basis.

George Dalley, Rangel's chief of staff, said the congressman had hired an attorney with specialized knowledge of the FEC to clear the legal expenses with the agency.

"We have a prior ruling that this is a legitimate campaign expense," he said, adding that there was an exchange of letters between the FEC and Rangel's lawyer.

But a spokeswoman for the FEC said she has no record of Rangel or his legal representative applying for a determination from the agency.

"The FEC requires campaigns to get approval before using campaign funds for any legal expenses that may in fact be personal," said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics-watchdog group based in Virginia.

"Any legal issue of whether Rep. Rangel paid his taxes appears to be a personal legal issue with nothing to do with Rangel's role as a congressman or candidate."

Although Rangel has retained an attorney to aid him in the scandal, he has failed to live up to his public vow to hire a forensic accountant to pore over his tax filings and financial records to figure out if he still owes Uncle Sam money for income earned on his Dominican villa.

In a statement released on Sept. 15, Rangel announced he would "conduct a thorough, independent review of all these statements going back 20 years as well as all of my US, state and local tax returns for the same time period."

He said he would turn over the findings to the House Ethics Committee, which is probing several issues. Those include revenue from the villa, Rangel's use of rent-stabilized apartments as offices in Harlem, and his use of congressional stationery to solicit contributions for an academic center to be named after him.

Following a Post investigation, Rangel admitted he failed to pay tax on at least $75,000 in rental income from his Dominican villa over the past 20 years. Later, he revealed he also failed to disclose the sale of a house he and wife Alma owned in Washington, and their $70,000 profit on a Florida condominium they bought in 2004 and sold in 2006.

Not to mention he's in possession of four rent-controlled apartments in a Harlem building.

I think I might have to become a Democrat. Then I can do whatever I please with no repercussions.

'I See No Reason Why Mr. Rangel Should Step Down'

Proving she's as arrogant as she is clueless, Nancy Pelosi just giftwrapped a campaign issue for the GOP. They'd be wise to open the present and share it with the entire country.

Embattled US Rep. Charles Rangel will not give up his plum leadership position on one of the most powerful committees in Congress, his lawyer said yesterday.

Despite growing calls for him to step aside as chairman of the tax-law-writing Ways and Means Committee - because he failed to report rental income from his Dominican Republic hideaway on his own tax returns - Rangel will stay put as the House Ethics Committee investigates his personal finances.

"Mr. Rangel has not considered, nor has it ever been on the table, that he would step aside from his current position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee," said the Harlem Democrat's lawyer, Lanny Davis.

Since Pelosi doesn't see any reasons, let's provide some for her.

* The congressman's Sunny Isles, Fla., condo was purchased in 2004 for $335,000 and listed as a rental, although he didn't report income on it. He then sold it in 2007 for a $60,000 profit, but didn't list the sale, as is required.

* He never disclosed, as mandated, the sale of his Washington, DC, home in 2000. Property records list the price as $500,000.

* He only sporadically listed rental income for a West 132nd Street home. Then, when he unloaded it in 2004, he didn't report the sale. The home's value was listed as less than $100,000 in 2002; in 2004, Rangel said it was worth $250,000 to $500,000.

* The value of his personal portfolio fluctuated wildly without explanation. The investments he reported grew from $50,001 in 2000 to somewhere between $177,000 and $530,000 in 2001. In 2002, he reported new holdings worth $115,000 to $315,000.

Normal people would be facing jail time for such shenanigans.

And we're not even going to mention his four rent-controlled apartments in the same Harlem building.

Previously.

Instapundit links. Thanks!

A 'Bad Chair Day' or Rangel: How Long Until He Plays the Race Card?

How long until Charlie Rangel plays the race card?

Judging by how quickly another New York politician has played it during the presidential campaign, I give it another day or two. It's pretty much all they have left.

Embattled Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel is facing possible ouster from his powerful committee chairmanship as he scrambles to file new tax returns in a desperate bid to hold on to his job.

The amended returns will reflect years of income he never bothered reporting from renting out his beachfront Caribbean villa, his lawyer said yesterday.

House Republicans yesterday pushed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to dump Rangel as head of the Ways & Means Committee, which writes the nation's tax laws.

"Given Chairman Rangel's continuing ethical lapses, he cannot effectively carry out his duties," nine GOPers wrote to Pelosi.

"It is in the best interest of the public and this representative institution for Rep. Rangel to step down from his chairmanship until his ethical issues have been resolved."

Memo to Republicans: Get ads ready on this. You have some momentum now with some possible McCain-Palin coattails. You never know, you could regain control of Congress and render removing Rangel from his chairmanship moot. Sure, I'd like to see him get the boot, but it would be nicer to have the people do the job.

Previously.

Oops: Tax Cheat Rangel Failed to Report Rental Income

How much longer will this farce continue? First we learn he has four apartments in the same rent-controlled building. Then we discover he has a cushy Dominican hideaway that he's renting out but not reporting income on.

At what point will the Democrats demand an end to this one-man culture of corruption?

Representative Charles B. Rangel has earned more than $75,000 in rental income from a villa he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988, but never reported it on his federal or state tax returns, according to a lawyer for the congressman and documents from the resort.

Mr. Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the federal tax code, bought the beachfront villa at the Punta Cana Yacht Club and has received twice-yearly payments from the resort, which rents the property for $500 or more per night.

Records from the development, now called the Punta Cana Resort and Club, indicated that Mr. Rangel’s rental profits varied from year to year, from $2,700 in 2004 to $7,600 in 1994.

A lawyer for Mr. Rangel, Lanny Davis, said on Thursday that the congressman would most likely file amendments to his tax returns for the years in question.

Mr. Davis said Mr. Rangel’s accountant believed he would most likely owe back taxes to the state and New York City.

But Mr. Rangel will probably have no federal tax liability, Mr. Davis said, because he considered the villa an investment rather than a vacation home, and was therefore entitled to deduct depreciation on the property, as well as taxes the resort management paid to the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Davis declined to release copies of the congressman’s tax returns and said he was gathering documents showing how often Mr. Rangel stayed at the home during the past two decades, a critical question because the Internal Revenue Service does not allow a property owner to deduct as much depreciation on a second home that the owner uses more than 14 days per year.

Mr. Davis said the congressman did not realize he had to declare the money as income, and was unaware of the semiannual payments from the resort because his wife, Alma, handled the family finances and conferred with their accountant, John Viardi, on tax matters.

Aww, he was unaware. I'd act like a leftwing blogger and suggest the 78-year-old Rangel has creeping senility, but that would be beneath me.

It's a good thing Rangel is a member in high standing of the worst Congress ever, so he won't even get a wristslap.

The disclosure is a sworn statement, and intentionally filing a false report is a felony that carries a possible five-year prison sentence, but in most cases the House ethics committee does not punish members for errors or omissions.

Maybe when Vice President Palin is sworn in she can tackle Congressional corruption as one of her first priorities.

Rangel Lawyers Up, Hires Clinton Spin Doctor

He's feigning outrage and demanding a probe of himself by the Democrat-controlled House Ethics Committee, as if they're going to find this sleazebag guilty of anything or even if they do, issue anything more than a love tap on the wrist.

Though in a sure sign of guilt, he's lawyered up with one of the oiliest spin doctors in recent memory, Lanny Davis.

Frankly, the guy should just give up those cushy rent-controlled apartments and be done with it. He might even come off looking magnanimous, although that might be stretching it, considering what a sleazebag he is.

Rep. Charles Rangel asked the House Ethics Committee yesterday to investigate allegations that he improperly received sweetheart deals on four rent-stabilized apartments at Lenox Terrace in Harlem.

While denying any wrongdoing, Rangel is taking the matter seriously. He has tapped hot-shot Washington defense lawyer Lanny Davis to try to handle the controversy.

In a letter to House ethics-panel chair Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), Rangel requested a review of "unfounded allegations against me with respect to apartment units that I have rented in my congressional district in Harlem."

"Some in the press have repeatedly - and erroneously - insinuated wrongdoing in my dealings with the landlord at Lenox Terrace. There has been no wrongdoing."

The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct would look at whether the difference between the reduced rent that Rangel pays and the market value of the units constitutes a "gift" banned under House rules.

One of the apartment units in question was converted into a campaign office. Rangel said last week he would give up that apartment.

Previously.

Lanny Davis Joining Fox News

Buried deep in today's Howard Kurtz journalistic tongue-bath of Linda Douglass is an item noting Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis is officially joining up as a contributor with Fox News Channel.

It's a surprise to me since I've seen Davis on FNC so much I figured he was already on the payroll.

Fox News's newest contributor, to be announced today, may surprise the liberal crowd: former Clinton White House lawyer Lanny Davis.

"Fox has always treated me with respect and given me a chance to express my point of view," Davis says of the network that the Democratic candidates refused to grant a debate out of concern that it favors Republicans. He will be a frequent guest, along with such Fox stalwarts as Karl Rove and Newt Gingrich.

A relentless surrogate for Hillary Clinton, Davis says, he felt "ganged up on" during appearances on the other cable channels. He says that Clinton was "demonized" by MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, and that CNN's primary-night panels were tilted toward the Obama side.

No kidding.

Expect a mature reaction from the left today. They'll probably wish him dead.