Proving once again that he believes there are no ethical standards that should stand in the way of sheer financial calculation, New York Mayor and the nation's leading Mosqueteer, Michael Bloomberg has recorded a robo-message in support of ethically-challenged Congressman, "Good-time" Charlie Rangel. Bloomberg, who has stayed out of most local races this season, recorded the call because "Charlie Rangel has always been there for New York City, and the mayor hasn't forgtotten that," mayoral spokesman Jason Post said.
Clearly bringing home the bacon trumps any ethical qualms one might have about Rangel's apparent tax-cheating, questionable accumulation of personal wealth and the use of the power and trappings of his office for personal aggrandizement. Pro-mosque Mike seems particularly proud of the
$300 million in stimulus funds (Rangel wrangled) to protect the jobs of New Yorkers, assuring affordable housing for families, and working to expand health coverage for all Americans."
Apparently the mayor considers Stand-up Charlie's use of rent controlled apartments meant as primary housing for low income residents to be used instead for the congressman's personal and office use as a creative way of providing affordable housing. At least for Charlie's family, that is.
Not surprisingly, Bloomberg's stance on the ethical issues surrounding both Rangel's status and the proposed building of the Ground Zero mosque can be summed up in two words: Ethics Smethics.
While presenting himself as the mosque's defender of the constitutional right to freedom of religious expression, Mosqueteer Bloomberg failed to apprise us of his financial interests in the Middle East. Those interests seem likely to be buoyed by the mayor's mosque support:
...in the spring of 2009, Bloomberg opened a news bureau in Abu Dubai, joining its existing offices not only in Dubai, but in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. And Bloomberg Chairman and Managing Director Peter T.Grauer announced plans to expand Dubai operations even more....Grauer revealed that while Bloomberg was taking a bath worldwide, business was booming in the Middle East.....Khaleej Times reported that "the New York company has drawn up a five-year plan that will see it achieving a two-fold increase in revenue from the Middle East region by 2014."
While bringing home the bacon is a concept that is probably anathema in Bloomberg's Middle Eastern business haunts, it remains an American political tradition still near and dear to the hearts of old-time political hacks like Charlie Rangel and Michael Bloomberg.
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target www.rightot.blogspot.com
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