Academic

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: Staff as ?Forgetful? as the Boss. Charlie Rangel?s ?forgetfulness? is app?

By Glenn Reynolds

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: Staff as “Forgetful” as the Boss.

Charlie Rangel’s “forgetfulness” is apparently contagious.

Two of his top aides are among about a dozen highly paid staffers on the powerful tax-writing Ways and Means Committee who have filed a flurry of amendments correcting their financial-disclosure statements since 2002.

Jim Capel, chief of staff for Rangel’s personal office, failed to file any such statements for six years.

On the afternoon of July 14, Capel filed five years’ worth of delinquent reports.

Capel told The Post yesterday it was a simple oversight.

Taxes, and forms, are for the little people. I’d like to see someone look into whether bigshots are getting more lenient treatment from the IRS than ordinary taxpayers here. It sure seems that way.

UPDATE: Did Rangel Pay Off Ethics Committee Members?

ANOTHER UPDATE: To be clear, while there’s evidence, per Byron York, that Rangel got sweetheart treatment from the IRS, we don’t know that regarding his staffers. All we know for sure is that there’s been a sudden flurry of updated disclosures. Thanks to reader Ian Watson for pointing out that I wasn’t sufficiently clear on that.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on September 03, 2009 (boomark / email).