WASHINGTON POST: RANGEL MUST GO

In January, the Washington Post named two managing editors. One of them for hard news and the other for lifestyle / features. Elizabeth Spayd, the new hard news editor was tasked, in part, with taking the paper in a bit of new direction. Speculation began that the Post would become more balanced. It's articles like this one about Charlie Rangel that lend credence to such claims.

QUOTING FROM PARAGRAPH #1:

FOR POLITICIANS with major bad news to release or to make public, there's no time like the dead of August to do it. The thinking goes that the public won't remember a thing come September. We hope Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) will have no such luck. His belated revelation of previously unreported income, property and bank accounts demands that he step aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Much like the man in charge of the Department that oversees the IRS (Geithner) needing to set a good example by paying his taxes, shouldn't the leader of the House Committee in charge of the money its responsible for spending set a good example as well?

I know, I'm being judgmental. Shame on me. What's interesting to see here though is that the Post is going after Rangel the way he should be gotten after.

Mr. Rangel's amended financial disclosure form, which exposes omissions from his 2002 through 2006 records, is a treasure trove of outrage. He neglected to report a checking account with the Congressional Federal Credit Union and one with Merrill Lynch, each valued between $250,000 and $500,000; the tens of thousands of dollars he's earning from dividends from a number of mutual funds and stocks; and the money made from the sale of a Harlem townhouse. As a result, Mr. Rangel's reported net worth doubled, from between $516,015 and $1,316,000 to between $1,028,024 and $2,495,000.

I'm not sure if the Post's circulation is increasing as a result of hiring Spayd but it sure seems like there may be some increased objectivity creeping into the paper.

Rangel may have been able to fall asleep on the beach reading the Post before but something tells me reading THIS ARTICLE won't allow him to.

Here's a link to the piece that announced the promotion of ELIZABETH SPAYD back in January.