NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS CALL ON STENDER BENEFACTOR TO RESIGN FROM POWERFUL TAX COMMITTEE

 For Immediate Release: September 16, 2008

Contact: Amanda Woloshen, 908-267-1613

NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS CALL ON STENDER BENEFACTOR TO RESIGN FROM POWERFUL TAX COMMITTEE

-- Yet Linda Stender Continues To Remain Silent; Refuses To Return Dirty Campaign Cash - 

GREEN BROOK, NJ - The New York Times was among the many national newspapers that have recently called on one of Linda Stender's biggest campaign supporters to step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.  U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel - who has given Linda Stender more than $71,000 in campaign contributions - is under three ethics investigations for questionable practices.

"In 2006, Stender called on her opponent to return campaign contributions from members of Congress under ethical clouds.  Yet despite reports of Rangel's tax evasion and ethical woes, Linda Stender refuses to comment and continues to keep Rangel's more than $71,000 in dirty campaign contributions," said Lance for Congress campaign manager Amanda Woloshen.  "Voters expect better and they'll get better with Leonard Lance in Congress."

A glace at the national newspapers calling on Rangel to step aside...

The New York Times said: "...his temporary yielding of the gavel is an urgent necessity for a Democratic Congress elected two years ago on promises of an ethical housecleaning. The villa dealings only add momentum to the investigations of two earlier controversies - Mr. Rangel's favored treatment in occupying four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan, and his improper use of official letterheads to solicit support from charities and corporations for an academic center to memorialize his career in public service....If Mr. Rangel refuses a temporary hiatus from his chairmanship, Ms. Pelosi should remove him permanently." (09/15/2008)

The Philadelphia Inquirer said:  "...Speaker Nancy E. Pelosi (D., Calif.) should remove Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. The post requires Rangel to be above reproach, and he has not met that high standard....Rangel won't step down as chairman, and wants his detractors to wait for the outcome of the ethics probe. Pelosi said she won't remove Rangel. She should reconsider." (09/15/2008)

The Washington Post said:  "...Mr. Rangel's latest date with the media was particularly embarrassing. He told the assembled reporters that he neglected to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic -- income and property that had not been previously disclosed -- because language barriers kept him from obtaining financial information. Mr. Rangel's attorney estimated the congressman owes more than $10,000 for 2004 to 2006. An assessment for the remaining 17 years is forthcoming." (09/14/2008)

And the Wall Street Journal wrote:  "...Charlie is a victim of the tax code he helped to write...The tax code now runs to some 67,000 pages, and Mr. Rangel has probably written a few thousand himself in his 38 years on Capitol Hill. If even the nation's top tax writer can't figure out what to declare as income, and what not to declare, how can the rest of us be expected to get it right?...He'd better hope both the IRS and his House colleagues treat him with more forbearance than he and they treat private citizens or businesses. Who knows, maybe Mr. Rangel will even take this embarrassment as new motivation to work with the next President on tax reform. How do you say ‘flat tax' in Spanish?" (09/15/2008)

"Voters want to know how many ethics investigations against Charlie Rangel will it take before Linda Stender condemns his actions and gives back his dirty money?" asked Woloshen. 

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