He just doesn't get it.

Every Congressman knows that you don't have to buy your own resort property - just get connected with the right parties, and they'll give you the travel and accommodations free in return for polical favor.

You're half right...he should be spending time, not with family, but in the PEN.

Proof the tax code is just too darn confusing, especially if the guy who helped write it can't figure it out.

The IRS should give him a cookie and tell him they understand how easy it is to get confused.

Because that's what they do when regular people don't report all their income.

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of these types outed for corruption and fraud when McCain/Palin take the white house. I highly doubt it'll happen if Obama wins. As we've all seen in his Chicago days, he seems to embrace these types.

Copy that Joey, and we didn't need an investigation to reveal what Rangel was all about.

The congressman can't blame the complexity of the tax code for this one - one of the most basic elements is that American citizens pay U.S. income tax on their worldwide income. Period.

And the IRS (correctly) has little patience for the "oh, I didn't know that was taxable" defense.

Given the recent efforts to raise the bar for tax compliance (Circular 230, Code Sec. 6694, etc.), this could be an interesting story to follow.

Arrogant, to be sure, but nothing compared to Adam Clayton Powell.

nothing compared to Adam Clayton Powell.

Not to mention Ted Stevens or Duke Cunningham . . . .

Whenever a Democrat gets in ethical hot water, it's customary for his or her compatriots to point out more egregious conduct by a Republican in order to deflect criticism. And vice versa. It's a never-ending game. Stevens and Cunningham were bigger crooks, but at least they didn't hold themselves out as friends of the poor, as Rangel does.

It is nice being Chair of W & M, so you can head off an investigation into exactly what one of NYC's biggest landlords was getting in return for Rangel's illegal use of four apts. at below-market rent.

I challenge the people of this blog and elsewhere, no matter your party, to hold our elected officials accountable, no matter their party. I'm tired of people deflecting criticism or covering for crooks just because they wear and R or a D. I generally hold the Republicans MORE accountable because I don't want those types of people in MY party.

Agreed. But the thread here was not so much R and D as B and W.

Allan,

B & W?

Because Rep. Rangel has black skin and Sen .Stevens and Rep. Cunningham have white skin?

You can't possibly believe that white Congressmen being prosecuted and prominent black Congressmen going undetected (for decades!) constitutes racism. If anything it suggests the IRS has failed to detect some pretty obvious red flags. Perhaps even that Members of Congress should be subjected to enhanced IRS scrutiny (like THAT will ever happen).

The last Ways and Means Chairman to plead guilty was (white guy) Dan Rostenkowski (in 1994). I attended his indictment press conference in person: "I didn't do it, I'm being persecuted by my political enemies and a malicious federal government with limitless resources, I will fight these unfounded charges (did I mention the prosector is black?), and he got a 17 month sentence for mostly penny ante crimes...Ghost employees on the payroll, contractors cutting his lawn for free, employees performing personal services, cashing in publicly purchased postal stamps for cash, stealing furniture). Clinton granted him clemency on December 22, 2000, because he was a really good Democrat in his heart of hearts.

Merry Christmas!

A crooked corrupt a**hat is a crooked corrupt a**hat.

I don't care if they are Democrat, Green, Independent, Libertarian, or Republican (alphabetical) - if they use their position to their own benefit, they should be recalled and jailed.