Rangel Should Stay

The title gives it away — this is a New York centric site, dedicated to the theory that you can carry New York with you wherever you may go.

And as a New Yorker at heart, the turmoil on Wall Street is particularly disturbing because it will have major implications for the city and the state — none of them good.  Wall Street is the engine that powers much of what government in New York does — the fall of Lehman and the crisis at other firms will make it harder for the City and State to deliver its essential services without budget cuts or tax increases.

That’s why yesterday’s New York Times editorial calling on Harlem’s Congressman Charles Rangel to step down from the Chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee was so shortsighted.

Having a New Yorker at the helm of the Committee that writes this nation’s tax policy will be vital at a time when the City and State may be heading into the worst fiscal crisis since the mid-70s.

Rangel will be in a position to deliver big for New York at a time when New Yorkers will desperately need it. 

As a (currently relocated) New Yorker, I would not give that up just because Rangel has one too many rent controlled apartments or failed to pay taxes on a rental property.  Do I excuse this?  No.  But his misdeeds simply don’t measure up when weighed against the great good he can do for the City and the State.