Rangel Has a Bad Chair Day

Embattled Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel is facing possible ouster from his powerful committee chairmanship as he scrambles to file new tax returns in a desperate bid to hold on to his job.

The amended returns will reflect years of income he never bothered reporting from renting out his beachfront Caribbean villa, his lawyer said yesterday.

House Republicans yesterday pushed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to dump Rangel as head of the Ways & Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws. “Given Chairman Rangel’s continuing ethical lapses, he cannot effectively carry out his duties,” nine GOPers wrote to Pelosi.

Read more: (Daphne Retter and Chuck Bennett, “Rangel Has a Bad Chair Day,” New York Post, 9//10/08)