Rangel’s Dominican ties may cost him

What does the Dominican Republic have to do with Rep. Charles Rangel? The connection may cost the veteran legislator plenty.

The longtime Democrat has come under fire over a litany of ethics violations including dubious rental arrangements and failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets. Republicans have tried to paint him as “a national symbol of Democratic misconduct” and have tried to strip him of his chair of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Their latest effort failed though Rangel has also faced increased scrutiny from some of his fellow Democrats.

In the latest chapter of the Rangel affair, the House Ethics Committee voted unanimously Thursday to widen its probe of the Harlem legislator. The investigation will examine in more detail Rangel’s Dominican ties:

(Rangel) disclosed that he owed more than $10,000 in back taxes because he had failed to report more than $70,000 in rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic.

The ethics committee eventually expanded its inquiry to include the unreported income and unpaid taxes from his home in the Dominican Republic and questions about whether he improperly used his office to raise money for a charity — the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York — from donors with business before his panel.

It appears as if Rangel will run again for Congress though it remains to be seen if the voters will stick by him once again.

Image- Washington Post
Online Sources- AP, New York Daily News, Rangel for Congress, New York Times, CNN