Rangel should give up chair

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., should step down or be removed as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel has displayed, at the very least, glaring ineptitude in the conduct of his own affairs, financial and otherwise. At most, he may have displayed a glaring ignorance regarding the kind of attention to ethics that voters clearly had hoped would occur when they gave majority control of the House to Democrats in 2006.

Democrats reportedly are fearful of setting precedent, of removing sitting chairmen before ethics investigations are complete or before they’ve been criminally charged. Others are concerned about Republicans using this as a campaign issue. The problem: Even if Rangel is cleared of any technical wrongdoing (which would surprise us), there’s still the matter of what we already know. And the campaign damage is already done, whether he stays on as chairman or not.

Beachfront villa

Rangel owes the Internal Revenue Service $5,000 for failure to report income from a beachfront villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. He said there was a language barrier. OK, he should have hired a Spanish-speaking accountant. He also will owe another $5,000 to New York City.

He faces ethics probes for rent-controlled apartments that he got in a bargain with a real estate developer. He also is accused of writing letters on congressional stationery that asked for contributions to a center that bears his name.

Rangel is chairman of a committee responsible for writing tax legislation, a job that demands attention to detail. If Rangel retains any credibility on that score, it is hanging by the slimmest of threads. Even absent committee findings, that’s why he should step down from the chairmanship.