Rangel gets Tangled in a Tax Web

Who would have thought that Charles Rangel, the raspy voiced chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, would have tax troubles? This is the same committee that is responsible for writing tax bills into existence. Now, Rangel has been true to the platform of his party by attacking corporations that drill for oil offshore for not paying taxes in the U.S. But, the tune changes when a lobbyists is playing the flute. Rangel dropped plans to tax the drillers when a lobbyist came a calling and throwing dollars around. Seems Eugene Isenberg, chairman of Nabors Industries, an oil-drilling company that does some work way out in the water, has made a donation in the amount of $1 million to the "Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service" at the City College of New York. Hmmmmm. Charles Rangel met with Mr. Isenberg and the lobbyist for Nabors Industries and discussed the legislation on the same morning that the congressman and Mr. Isenberg met to talk about the chief executive's potential support for the Rangel center. And, just for dramatic effect, that meeting also took place on the very day that the offshore-taxation issue came up before his committee.

What a tangled web you weave, Mr. Rangels