Rep. Charles Rangel has vowed to return to his post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee after an ethics panel concludes an investigation into his finances.

The New York Democrat, who voluntarily stepped aside as committee chairman in March, said on Fox Business Network on Wednesday: “As soon as the ethics committee completes its work, I will be back sitting in the seat.”

Rangel said in March that he stepped aside “in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections.”

The ethics committee has admonished Rangel for accepting corporate-sponsored trips and is also looking into allegations related to his tax and real estate dealings, The Hill reported. One allegation maintains that Rangel failed to disclose rental income from an apartment in the Dominican Republic.

Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan has been acting chairman of the committee in Rangel’s absence.

Despite Rangel’s vow, The New York Times reported when he stepped down: “Republicans and Democrats said that given the political climate and the slap by the ethics committee, he [is] unlikely to be able to reclaim his leadership post.”

Jim sent this in:

When Mr. Rangel’s legal advisers first acknowledged the unreported income, during interviews with reporters, they said his accountants had determined that he would probably owe back taxes to the city and New York State, but not the federal government.

But his lawyer, Lanny Davis, said that the accountants had since revised their calculations and determined that Mr. Rangel would owe “a modest amount” to the federal government for unpaid taxes over the last five years. Mr. Davis said Mr. Rangel was likely to owe both the state and the city a similar amount over the same period. The combined total of back taxes owed to the city, state and federal governments will probably be “several thousands of dollars,” Mr. Davis told the New York Times.

Well, let’s take a look at the real Charlie Rangel as evidenced in a little known story of how a New York City detective named Sidney knocked the robust politician on his keister following the utterance of a Rangelism in the 1960s:

Sidney was one of New York City’s first African-American detectives. In fact, he was so good at policing in the city’s toughest neighborhoods, that he was promoted to the coveted rank of 1st Grade Detective in the NYPD, the youngest in New York’s history. A former Marine — one of the first blacks to be accepted into the Marine Corps — Sid was your consummate police officer. Tough, relentless and proud, Sid tempered his tough street persona with intelligence and a sense of fairness that won the respect of his superiors, his fellow cops and the citizens he served. Sid came from a black family of achievement with one brother becoming a police captain and another serving as a colonel in the US Army.

While still a young detective, Sidney arrested a black man who was dealing drugs on streets and schoolyards of Harlem. The drug dealer sold heroin to black youngsters who were being told over and over again since they were knee high that their lives were hopeless in an America that at best cared little for them, at worst wanted them in prison or dead. They were indoctrinated with this rhetoric by the likes of Charlie Rangel, white liberals and their echo chamber, the mainstream news media. Detective Sid had little compassion for a man who sold drugs to black kids.

At the time, Charlie Rangel was an up-and-coming political hack in the local Democrat Club and a lawyer more adept at shooting off his mouth than arguing his positions on jurisprudence. Rangel ended up representing the drug-pushing punk — whose parents, by the way, were financially very well off. The punk’s dad was a bigtime contributor to the local Democrat Party and a supporter of Rangel for congressman which led to Rangel acting on behalf of an unrepentant drug pusher. Ironically, Rangel later would become chairman of Congress’ Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control.

So Charles Rangel, attorney-at-law, visited my partner Sid in order to get him to back off and perhaps change some of the testimony should the case go to trial. The young detective told Rangel, “No way. That skell sells poison to kids.” At that point Charlie Rangel, a known bully in Harlem and northern Manhattan, called Sid an Uncle Tom and got in his face. The six-foot tall detective hauled off and bopped him right in his face and Rangel went down. After getting up from the floor and brushing himself off, the opulent future congressman made some empty threats of retaliation, however Rangel never filed departmental charges of police brutality. Sid believed Charlie Rangel knew if he did he would find himself in a jackpot over witness tampering and he may have had to kiss his political career goodbye.

So now whenever you see Congressman Charles Rangel on television ridiculing conservatives or denigrating the US military, think about a fat lawyer lying flat on his back at the feet of a patriot, a leader and one of the best cops who ever breathed.

The last time I checked, the free market system was designed to ensure healthy competition, regardless of the industry.  The good companies survive and thrive, while the not so good ones go by the wayside.  It is how capitalism has been for time immemorial.  Yet there is one industry that just doesn’t get it as they opt to go the route of GM, Chrysler and several financial institutions.  What is that industry, you’re wondering?  Coincidentally or not, it is the broadcasting industry; more specifically, the minority broadcasting industry.

What this group has done is asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for financial assistance – in other words, a bailout, of sorts.  According to the letter drafted by the group in question,

“Minority-owned broadcasters are close to becoming an extinct species. Even in better economic times, minority broadcasters have historically had difficulties accessing the capital markets. Unlike the auto business, broadcasting has been healthy for many years.”

Not surprisingly, this letter was a supplement to a proposal sent in May to Geithner by a group of influential members of the House – including Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Barney Frank (D-MA), Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Edolphus Towns (D-NY).

At a hearing last week, the head of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters James Winston told lawmakers that advertisers have severely cut investments (in other words reduced their ad budgets) in minority audiences at the same time that minority broadcasters are having a hard time negotiating loan terms with banks.  

Regardless of the percentage of broadcast entities owned by minorities (7.7% of radio and 3.2% of TV), they are sufering what a lot of other industries are sufffering – a drop in revenue due to a sluggish economy.  they should under no circumstances be granted special privileges just because they are having a low period in keeping revenues up.  They are no better than GM, Chrysler or Wall Street; as a matter of fact, they should do like any good business would do in these difficult times – make necessary cuts that will ensure their long-term survival.

And I hope like hell that this measure put out there by this group and any correspondence sent to the House does not go any further than it already has.  Giving preferential treatment to thiws group would set a bad precedence and would basically allow other industries to have their hand out.