Bloodthirsty Liberal

How come it’s okay to be crooked if you’re a black Democrat? Is it the Democrat part that excuses you, or the black part? (Neither helped William Jefferson, so I’m sure he’d like to know.)

Charlie Rangel doesn’t pay taxes (though he does write the tax code):

House Republicans on Wednesday attempted to pass a resolution to remove Rangel from his chairmanship following the reading of a long and stinging list of alleged wrongdoing. The measure stemmed from a major ethics probe into Rangel’s alleged failure to pay his taxes and disclose income on multiple properties — as much as $1.3 million.

But House Democrats were quick to strike down the measure to oust Rangel, who represents New York’s Harlem district. House Republicans refused to accept defeat of the resolution, and asked for a second recorded vote following the first. The reading of the resolution was interrupted several times, and at one point was challenged by Democrats before being put to a vote.

Wednesday’s vote came as reports emerge that Rangel funneled a $3 million earmark — included in the massive Defense Appropriations Bill — to City College of New York to fund research on materials used to protect Army vehicles from attack.

Critics charge that the powerful chairman of the tax-writing committee — arguably the most influential in Congress — should step down amid growing allegations and investigations into possible ethics violations.

Locally, City Councilman Chuck Turner, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, easily won his primary:

Ten months after his arrest on corruption charges, Chuck Turner is charging toward reelection.

The Boston city councilor, whose image was splashed across the news last November in what the FBI said was a picture of Turner accepting a cash bribe, easily won a four-way preliminary election Sept. 22, with nearly 53 percent of the vote. Under indictment, Turner still got more than twice the votes of his nearest challenger. He called it “a resounding mandate.’’

“This, to me, was them saying, ‘Chuck, we know you’re innocent,’ ’’ Turner said in an interview in his office last week, sitting beneath a portrait of Malcolm X and a hand-scrawled sign marking the months until his federal corruption trial.

The councilor, who said his arrest was a calculated effort to “take down a black politician,’’ is seeking vindication on two fronts: at the ballot box on Nov. 3 and in a federal courtroom in March.

As an equal opportunity blogger, I wish to point out that neither Turner nor Rangel, is a two-time convicted drunk driver, now an accused (and confessed) hit-and-run driver, like State Senator Anthony Galluccio:

State Senator Anthony D. Galluccio apologized yesterday for rear-ending a family of four on Sunday afternoon and fleeing the scene, an accident that left one person with minor injuries, a Cambridge neighborhood shaken by his actions, and questions about what prompted his lapses behind the wheel.

It is the latest chapter in Galluccio’s checkered driving history: The 42-year-old senator has had repeated problems, including at least two previous accidents involving alcohol. In an interview yesterday, Galluccio refused to say whether he had been drinking alcohol before Sunday’s incident.

The Cambridge Democrat hit the family’s car with enough force that he left an imprint of his license plate on their van, which helped police track and cite him Monday with leaving the scene of an accident.

That’s pretty funny, you have to admit. Why don’t you stick to graft, Anthony, so nobody gets hurt?

Anybody want to bet that all three of the above win their reelection campaigns? I didn’t think so.