Democrat culture of corruption

He's all for raising taxes, on you -- not himself.

'FORGETFUL' CHARLIE FINDS ANOTHER 780G
By CHARLES HURT DC Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON -- Embattled Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel -- who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee -- failed to reveal personal assets totaling as much as $780,000 in financial-disclosure reports filed with Congress, records released yesterday show.
Democrat Rangel, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, submitted corrected documents with the House Clerk earlier this month, more than a year after filing handwritten and wildly inaccurate 2007 disclosure forms that left out a hefty checking account, several sizable investments and land in New Jersey.
The unreported assets included one of Rangel's most valuable holdings -- a checking account at the Congressional Federal Credit Union containing somewhere between $250,000 and as much as $500,000, according to the revised form released yesterday. The forms include only ranges of value and not specific amounts.
Rangel also didn't 'fess up to at least five other investments. One of those, with the ING Principal Protection Fund, was valued at between $50,000 and $100,000, records show.
Three previously undisclosed investment portfolios ranged in value from $15,000 to $50,000, including stock in Pepsico.
Another unrevealed investment -- stock in YUM! Brands -- ranged in value from $1,000 to $15,000, according to records.
Also left off Rangel's original 2007 financial-disclosure report were two empty lots in Glassboro, NJ, valued at less than $15,000.
The revised financial-disclosure forms raise Rangel's net worth in 2007 from $1.3 million to as much as $2.5 million.
Rangel also altered his disclosed investment income from that year. The original report showed he had received between $6,511 and $17,900, but the new report shows between $45,423 and $134,700.
His office said Rangel is all paid up on his taxes.
Congress requires members to file annual financial-disclosure reports to show where outside income comes from and to help expose relationships with outside interests.
Rangel's office yesterday acknowledged the faulty disclosure forms but refused to answer numerous key questions.
"Last fall, the congressman publicly acknowledged errors in some of his previously filed forms and committed to a thorough review of his financial records," read the statement, issued by Elbert Garcia.
"He said at that time that he would correct any mistakes, and with these amendments he has done so."
His office declined to explain how Rangel could have overlooked a checking account containing between $250,000 and $500,000 or how long the lawmaker has failed to account for it in previous financial-disclosure forms.
It also refused to say how Rangel could have failed to include two plots of land that he owned, how long Rangel has owned the Glassboro property, or how he acquired it.
The unreported assets come amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into a host of Rangel's questionable financial dealings.