Is It Time for Charlie Rangel to Go?

Should he stay or should he go?

Here's the charge: As detailed below, New York Democratic Congressman Charles B. Rangel has failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars of income and to pay taxes on that income. Thus, he has failed to abide by the very tax laws he has had a hand in writing.

In itself, such a failure is a serious matter. And when the person in question heads the House Ways and Means Committee, as Rangel has since 2007, it is even more so. Because all revenue-raising bills must pass through this committee, the chairman is in a unique position. Ways and Means has had plenty of powerful leaders in the past. Some of them --- Wilbur Mills and Dan Rostenkowski --- ably led the committee, only to resign in scandal; others -- Bill Archer and Bill Thomas -- served without scandal and moved on.

The fact that the Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over taxation, tariffs and legislation concerning Social Security, Medicare and unemployment gives the chairman tremendous responsibility to go with that tremendous power. By failing to report income and pay taxes on it, Rangel failed to live up to his responsibilities.

Is that failure significant enough that he should step down?

You be the judge. Rangel is a good man. He is a war hero -- he was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service in the Korean War. He is a founding member of the influential Congressional Black Caucus. (President Obama spoke about the need for health care reform at the CBC Foundation's annual meeting last weekend.) Rangel has represented the 15th district of New York since 1971 and is a champion of the disadvantaged, sponsoring an impressive array of bills to expand benefits for middle- and low-income taxpayers, increase funding for education, provide small business loans, and encourage economic development through the Empowerment Zone program.

In 2007, he sponsored what he called the "the mother of all tax reforms" to undertake a long-overdue restructuring of our complex and arcane tax code. Unfortunately, Rangel appears to be less than forthright with his own taxes. In September 2008, the House Ethics Committee began investigating his failure to pay taxes on $70,000 in rental income Rangel earned on a villa in the Dominican Republic; whether he solicited donations -- using congressional stationery -- for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service from businesses with matters before his committee; and for allegedly paying below-market rent on several apartment units. Other investigators are trying to determine whether Rangel inappropriately was reimbursed for travel expenses incurred while attending a Caribbean conference in 2008.

Rangel's financial troubles have continued to mount. Last month, he filed amended personal financial disclosure forms for 2007, reporting that he had inadvertently failed to report assets worth at least half a million dollars. Later in August, the New York Post reported that Rangel had also revealed several major omissions from his 2002 through 2006 filings: Rangel had failed to report up to $1 million in capital gains and rent from a building he owns in Harlem; had failed to pay taxes on property owned in New Jersey; and failed to disclose ownership of stock valued at up to $50,000. The result of these disclosures is that Rangel's personal net worth may be as high as $2.495 million, rather than the $1.316 million previously reported.

These figures are not trivial. In light of them, calls for Rangel to step down or at least step aside from his chairmanship during the ethics investigation are growing. Earlier this month, the Washington Post repeated its call, first made in 2008, that Rangel relinquish his chairmanship. The New Republic believes that Rangel should no longer chair the tax-writing committee. The Buffalo News has called for Rangel to resign from Congress. The New York Post would like to "Fire Rangel."

Republicans have been relatively silent on the matter, with just one member issuing a relatively mild rebuke: Republican Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio sent his friend a letter asking that "for the good of the Congress" he step aside.

Not everyone feels this way. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, so far, has said she will allow Rangel to keep his post until the Ethics Committee determines that Rangel has violated House rules or if formal charges are filed against the chairman. (The ethics report was supposed to have been released nine months ago.) The Wall Street Journal has criticized Rangel's behavior, but stopped well short of demanding his resignation.

Rangel has not commented publicly on the charges. His office released a statement saying, "Fairness dictates that, before Congressman Rangel can speak publicly on issues before the Ethics Committee, the committee must be given the opportunity to deliberate and issue its own findings on the matter." His office also noted that he has "opened his records for examination by the Ethics Committee and hired a forensic accountant to examine his financial-disclosure statements."

The Democratic Party is in a delicate position. It could find it extremely difficult to pass vital health care and tax reform legislation with its senior tax leader under such a troubling cloud. And it is also difficult to ask American taxpayers to increase their contributions to the federal coffers when the chief tax writer has admitted to such lax concern for his own tax liabilities.

Rangel could take the easy way out by simply deciding not to run for re-election next fall -- although he has given no indication he would take this step. But Rangel will then be 80 years old and could retire on his own terms. Fellow CBC member John Lewis (D-Ga.), though only the fifth-ranking member of Ways and Means, would be a very attractive replacement for him.

So, you be the judge -- should Charlie go? Register your vote below.