Thursday, July 17, 2008

Rep. Charlie "Wrangle" Plays Dumb on Real Estate Scam


Rep. Charlie Rangel, who represents Harlem's 19th Congressional District, sure knows how to wrangle himself a whopper of a real estate deal. He's managed to acquire four rent-stabilized apartments in his district's Lenox Terrace development at rents roughly 50% below market, and without enduring the same aggressive scrutiny from landlord Olnick Organization that has seen the poor, the elderly, the sick and the blind evicted over much less. But of course, Rep. Wrangle has angrily asserted he's done nothing wrong nor is he aware of getting any special treatment. C'mon Charlie, you're one of the sharpest tools in the shed. Do you really expect us to believe you had no idea that you were getting a preferential deal? If he didn't do anything wrong, why has he decided to give up his fourth rental unit, the one he currently uses as an office?

What is it about politicians that gives them special skills for blatant, outrageous lies? Why is it that they think they can portray themselves as ignorant and unaware of even the most obvious situations from which they benefit? Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) "didn't realize" his Countrywide mortgage rate was less than everyone else's. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "didn't think" there was anything fishy about Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko buying the land next door to the Obamas and selling it to them for a below-market price. And of course, Bill Clinton "didn't think" a blowjob constituted having sex.

It's unconscionable that Rep. Wrangle would greedily amass his not-so-little 50% discounted rent-stabilized fiefdom when his own constituents are being put on the street for failing to meet much less stringent income and/or residency requirements. Judging from Thursday's NY Times front-page article about the Congressman's shady deal, his neighbors clearly agree.

Unfortunately for Rep. Wrangle, this story has legs. Given the attention it's been getting on a national scale, the double-talking Congressman will likely lose his third apartment (the first two had been connected years prior), be hit with huge rent increases, and/or lose an appreciable amount of votes.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charlie Wrangle, Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, both Clintons, and Barack Obama - They are all slimeballs.

Anonymous said...

"The Ostroy Report is a fresh, aggressive answer to the powerful Right Wing spin machine. We take on Bush, the Republican Party and the conservative media. Our mission is to help Democrats regain the White House and Congress."

Not lately it isn't.

Preferential real estate transactions and immoral sexual behavior are not the sole province of either party. Yet in today's column only Democrats are singled out. Given the stated purpose of the blog, the question to ponder is... why?

John McCain is an admitted adulterer and whoremongerer. His connections with sleazy real estate moguls in Arizona are lengthy but not well known as they're not harped on by any media (google Donald Diamond and Rick Renzi for reference), including the Ostroy Report.

It's entirely fair to say Dems need to clean up their act, and they do. But at the same time it's entirely right, and consistent with the stated goals of this blog, to point out the far more egregious acts of the GOP and their standard bearer.

Anonymous said...

Andy,

Thought you would want to look at the following link:

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/does_obama_have_a_real_estate_problem.html

The Ostroy Report said...

Anon 11:59, I appreciate you trying to explain to me what my own mission is, but I think I have that down, thanks.

But you confuse me with some other blatant, unconditional partisan hacks. While I will continue to do whatever I can to help further the Democratic cause, it is not without periodic criticism of my party and its candidiates. Without that, I'd be a shameless stooge like Sean Hannity and others.

Lastly, while it may seem to you that I've singled out only Deomcrats for this piece, it's pure coincidence. You're reading into it much more than you should. A simple trip back in time on this blog will give you a very clear sense of who I support and how.
Andy

Anonymous said...

I am extremely grateful to Andy Ostory for giving me a place to read the facts without spin. I may not always agree with him but I know he hasn't altered the truth to try to win others to his point of view. I really can't think of a TV program or another publication where I have that assurance.

So I say thank you Mr. Ostroy. You serve us and our country well.

Anonymous said...

Andy,

I do not confuse you with Sean Hannity or some other partisan hack and why I said it's entirely fair to rip Dems when they need to clean up their act.

It's my own wish, and understandably you may not share the same view, that those who support the Democratic cause and have a forum for doing so (like yourself) would more regularly, or at the same time, point out the inconsistencies and hypocrisy being exhibited by the GOP standard bearer - instead of perpetuating the current fixation it seems we have with tearing ourselves apart.

Small beef, but there you have it...

Anonymous said...

I am so disappointed in Rangel. I thought he was different. I read the article "Rangel's Neighbors See a Rent Double Standard" and was then outraged. I am horrified at how shamelessly the Olnick Organization abuses the poor rent-stabilized tenants to make more money and I was more outraged that Rangel continues to maintain four rent-stabilized apartments and does nothing to help his fellow tenants not so powerful and rich as he is. He lacks character, integrity, honesty and compassion. He's put on a act for public observation his entire career, I presume. It seems a lot of America has become corrupt Certainly almost every gov. official we know. and in my small town, every workman cheats the vulnerable and calls in "just being a good businessman." In my younger days of yore, this was not the case in America. People were proud of the integrity and dood deeds. Could Michelle Obama bave right, after all when she said "america is mean."?

Anonymous said...

"I thought he was different."

oh boo hoo, "I thought he was different"

Of course YOU thought he was 'different'. You are either a college student in the "I know it all" era of your life or you are at best a union member without skills to obtain/retain a job by yourself.

Don't worry, one day you might grow up and realize that you are really a conservative person and that it's the Democrats and their PC police that are attacking the liberties Americans treasure.

An Obama Presidency will destroy the economy, weaken America, lower the quality of health care, lower the quality of education for our children, increase all energy costs, and attack our right to free speech via the 'racism' label.

Anonymous said...

Where is Hillary when we need her?!?! Get rid of Obama, he's nothing but trouble. Has anyone heard about the grassroots protests to get Hillary the nomination ?

I know I'll be in Denver pulling for Hillary!

Anonymous said...

11:31 sounds like the one who used to call himself "Larry." Bet it is.

1:09 Join us under the rock and learn something: Hillary has not surrendered her delegates and Obama is not officially the candidate.

Let's all unite to make Hillary our candidate and President of the USA.

The Ostroy Report said...

Anon 6:26, if you truly think this blog criticizes Democrats more than it does Republicans, or that it's even close for Pete's sake, then you clearly do not read it on a regular basis.

Anonymous said...

8:11, do you pay attention to current events? Because the last time I checked Hillary had conceded to Obama & fully endorsed him as the Democratic candidate.

Anonymous said...

8:11 were you in a coma when Hillary conceded? The NEWS then was that she was still keeping her delegates because "if anything happened" before the convention, she could still be the nominee Get a tutor.

Anonymous said...

I'm doing fine without a tutor, thanks. I also happen to live in REALITY, I cannot say the same for you.

If Hillary felt that she really had a chance to clinch the nomination, then she very well had the right to take her campaign all the way to the Democratic convention. She didn't. The convention is weeks away. If perhaps, she did decide to re-join the race, do you think that would bode well for the Democratic party? Would that help the party in their desire to unify behind ONE CANDIDATE for the nomination? I don't think so. The Dems will look confused & stupid & McSame will look like the better representation because the Dems just couldn't get it together. "If something happens"? What, if Obama just happened to have something happen to him? Hil's comment meant nothing. Wake the hell up.

Besides, there's always 2012.

Anonymous said...

10:35 No one implied that Hillary was going to re-enter the race. But "Somethiong could happen" -- you apparently don't remember the flak about her Bobby Kennedy refernece. Not onlky that, if you read this blog regularly there are those who would want to draft her.

Try to understand this:

HILLARY NEVER HINTED THAT SHE WOULD RE-ENTER THE RACE. IN FACT, THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE UNLESS

SOMETHING HAPPENED

Go back to sleep and stop making inane comments.

Anonymous said...

The American Physical Society, which represents 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on "climate change." The organization now says that many of its members do not buy into OwlGore's apocalyptic man-made global warming scheme.

The Physics & Society Forum of the American Physical Society wrote, "There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution."

Perhaps the primary instigator for this was the publication of a paper by Lord Monckton, which mathematically proves that there is no "climate crisis." Monckton uses 30 equations to prove that "the computer models used by the UN's climate panel (the IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is 'climate sensitivity' (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2's effect on temperature in the IPCC's latest climate assessment report." In other words ... the UN's models were wrong. They were programmed to give you these fraudulently hyped numbers to scare people into acting.

Here are a few other facts published by Lord Monckton:

The IPCC's 2007 climate summary overstated CO2's impact on temperature by 500-2000%;
CO2 enrichment will add little more than 1 °F (0.6 °C) to global mean surface temperature by 2100;
Not one of the three key variables whose product is climate sensitivity can be measured directly;
The IPCC's values for these key variables are taken from only four published papers, not 2,500;
The IPCC's values for each of the three variables, and hence for climate sensitivity, are overstated;
"Global warming" halted ten years ago, and surface temperature has been falling for seven years;
Not one of the computer models relied upon by the IPCC predicted so long and rapid a cooling;
The IPCC inserted a table into the scientists' draft, overstating the effect of ice-melt by 1000%;
It was proved 50 years ago that predicting climate more than two weeks ahead is impossible;
Mars, Jupiter, Neptune's largest moon, and Pluto warmed at the same time as Earth warmed;
In the past 70 years the Sun was more active than at almost any other time in the past 11,400 years.
Now can I say it ... for all of you global warmers out there who have your thongs in a wad over the poor polar bears or ice caps or rising seas .... I told you so.

Anonymous said...

Hey Neal,

You might want to head on over to the American Physical Society's website. On the front page, in contrast to your rant, the Society REAFFIRMS its position on climate change and stands in contradiction to the article you cited.

Excitedly, Boortz has shot his wad a bit quickly again.

Anonymous said...

Every contribution Neal Boortz has made to this blog has been wrong. His tax proposals were off the wall. At least his manners have improved and he doesn't clog the site with his entries. His lack of compassion for other living creatures and not improved however. And why does he think we'll believe the crap he writes. Exactly how does Lord Mo(n)ckton explain why the sun became "more active" and how and where did the Lord get the records for the past 11,400 years to compare?

Anonymous said...

After admitting that the surge in Iraq is working, B. Hussein Obama fielded the following question:

"If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge:"

What was B. Hussein Obama's answer?

"No, because keep in mind that question, you wouldn't ... but keep in mind that kind of hypothetical is very difficult to know hindsight is 20-20 ... later ... but I think that what I'm absolutely convinced of is that at that time we had to change the political debate because the view of the Bush administration at that time was one that I just disagreed with."

WTF ?!? He has no idea what he is talking about. Barack is a sputtering fool when he doesn't have a script full of 'change' and butterflies. Barack can't keep America safe, he's an absolute idiot. Please read and reread his answer to that question. He says absolutely nothing!

So, he admits that the surge is working, but he wouldn't support it if he could do it all over again. B. Hussein Obama WANTS America to lose in Iraq - and so does any Democrat that would vote for him.