Rangel Breaking Law In Trying To Clean Up His Tax Mess

Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democrat from Harlem who figured that he didn't have to pay taxes on imputed income, income from rentals of his Punta Cana villa, or sales of property like the rest of Americans who engage in such transactions, is engaging in more illegal actions by using his campaign funds to pay for his legal team.

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.

That's a direct violation of campaign finance law.

Of course, Rangel figures that nothing will happen to him because his fellow Democrats in the Congress will protect him and his constituents will handily vote him back into office despite his repeated illegal acts.

He's broken federal law on numerous occasions by failing to pay taxes and underreporting his income. He's now breaking federal law by using campaign funds to pay for his legal expenses for the personal matter of failing to report those income taxes.

This man doesn't belong in Congress. He belongs behind bars. He has absolute contempt for the people he claims to represent and as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is in charge of writing tax legislation. Democrats in Congress should be held responsible for their refusal to deal with Rangel's criminality.

Jammie has more details.

More to the point, the media remains on the sidelines with this scandal, which involves a major Democratic party leader in the House - one of the elder statesmen - who couldn't care less about obeying the law and adhering to federal law and policy.

At a time when Republicans get painted with a broad brush as being corrupt as a result of the Ted Stevens conviction; Democrats are getting a pass by the same media which is largely ignoring Rangel's ongoing criminality and scandalous behavior.