The Railroading of Charlie Rangel

[BurtWorm]

From the NY Sun:

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/railroading-rangel/87034/

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Mrs. Vladeck is gone, alas, but we’ve been thinking of her words during the railroading of an honest stalwart of the left, Congressman Charles Rangel. He is set to go on trial at the age of 80, in the closing years of a long career of service that began in the frozen ditches and darkest days of fight for a free Korea. The charges center on his use of congressional letterhead to try to raise private, voluntary contributions for a public college.

On its face, the alleged infraction strikes us as not only petty but also illogical. No one carped when Mr. Rangel used earmarks to steer something like $1.9 million in taxpayer funding to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Affairs at City College. But his use of congressional stationary to approach people like David Rockefeller and ask them to contribute to City College to educate minority students in public service is somehow taken as scandalous.

The statement of alleged violations issued by a House investigative subcommittee reckons the charitable contributions to the Rangel Center “constituted indirect gifts” that were “attributable” to Mr. Rangel. He, incidentally, is described as “respondent,” though, since he himself requested the investigation, the “respondent” could just as easily be the Ethics Committee.

The reason these contributions are “gifts” and “attributable” to Mr. Rangel seems to be that he would have an office in the Rangel Center and the center would allow him to store and archive his papers and “to perpetuate his legacy.” But the papers themselves would no longer be Mr. Rangel’s, because he is giving them to a university that is owned by the public. The logical move is to send Mr. Rangel not a subpoena but a thank you note.

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