Has the MSM Forgotten the Rangel Investigation That Has No End?

Back in early 2009, while the MSM noted the tax evasion problems of several of Obama’s appointees, Congressman Charlie Rangel (D, NY) sat nearby, grinning like the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland. The tax transgressions of Timmy Geithner, Tommy Daschle, Nancy Killefer, et al are equivalent to shoplifting a candy bar from a convenience store when compared to Charlie’s multiple, long-term, bank heists. Cholly’s been at it for four decades!

Last October, the New York Post reviewed his long history of funny money management.

So it would go for Charlie Rangel over the next four decades — a pattern of tax evasion, special treatment and enrichment that seemed to increase with his power and prestige in Congress. Whether it’s living in rent-stabilized apartments while making a hefty salary, or failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in earnings and assets, his actions betray a consistent, defiant sense of entitlement. And when he is caught, the powerful Democrat blames a right-wing conspiracy.

We also learned last October that the on-going congressional inquiry into Charlie’s tax issues was being “expanded” —

The House ethics committee on Thursday expanded its investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel to include his belated financial disclosure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unreported assets and income.

The Ethics Committee probe has been underway now for about a year-and-a-half. The Warren Commission took 10 months to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

Let’s revisit how the investigation into Rangel began back in September 2008:

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Six months later, Charlie said the delay in the Ethics Committee coming to a resolution was due to all the breaks from work that members of Congress had taken. Guess he doesn’t know that staffers do the work.

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Meanwhile, Charlie doesn’t like being reminded of his tax problems, as his response in this short clip illustrates.

If the House Ethics Committee drags out its “investigation” of Charlie until the 2010 elections, they’ll come close to matching the time it took the Allies to plan the Normandy Invasion in World War II.

So what’s going on his with this Inspector Clouseau-like, alleged investigation of Congressman Charlie Rangel?

Does the Ethics Committee accept Senator Reid’s bizarre assertion that paying taxes is, after all, voluntary?

Are they covering Charlie because, after 39 years in the House, he knows where too many bodies are buried?

Do the Democrats plan to put the “investigation” into a coma until the 2010 elections when Charlie, who will be 80 years old next June, steps down to spend more time with his family?

Or, is Nancy Pelosi giving Charlie a pass because his predecessor in the first congressional seat Charlie occupied (NY-18) was Democrat Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.?

Powell was more overt in his financial and legal misbehaviors. On March 1, 1967, he was excluded from the House on a vote of 307 to 116. They threw him out, although he was later re-elected to the seat the House had tried to deny him and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, where he won on Constitutional grounds.

Charlie, less flamboyant, has been more circumspect with his funny money deals. He’s a team player.

And, finally, what’s up with the MSM’s silence about the investigation that just won’t end?