In Congress, Not All The Bad Guys Are Republicans— The Dems Have Their Share Of Malefactors As Well

Remember Richie Neal Of Massachusetts?

Pelosi, Rangel, Neal-- the joke has always been on us, trying to believe that the Democratic establishment is somehow less corrupt than the GOP establishment

Back when the internet was barely a thing, the music companies’ trade group/lobbyists, the RIAA, worked with Congress to define online musical copyright rules. It was neither partisan nor controversial and whatever wheels needed to be greased had already been greased and it was clear sailing in Congress. The RIAA wanted to make sure that when the bill got to Bill Clinton’s desk he would routinely sign it. They decided one of the company presidents should have an informal chat with him about it. At the time, there was just one major label president who had an understanding of what the internet was and was using it— and you’re reading his words now. So they donated a great dal of money to the DNC under my name and sent me off to a Clinton-headlined fundraiser at a billionaire’s backyard in Beverly Hills.

It wasn’t a natural environment for me. But when I was introduced to the president, he was really friendly and made me feel very comfortable.He had been briefed and immediately wanted to talk about bringing tow of our artists to the White House to meet him— Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks. He had zero interest in talking about the legislation. Instead he called over Charlie Rangel, the crooked chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (later removed in a scandal) and handed me off to the smiling, friendly— even obsequious— Rangel. As soon as Clinton walked away and I explained that the bill I was here to talk about had already been approved in committee, the smile disappeared and I understood that the obsequiousness was towards the president, not towards me. He called over his son and waddled off. The son immediately asked me for a bribe.

Rangel had been elected to the House in 1970— having successfully primaried the legendary Adam Clayton Powell. By 2008 his criminal behavior was well known and he was under constant investigation by the House ethics Committee which eventually found him guilty of nearly a dozen violations of House rules leading his censure by the full House in 2010. He beat back strong primary challenges but finally didn’t run for reelection in 2016.

The current corrupt ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee is Richie Neal (D-MA), who was elected in 1988, when Rangel was already rapidly rising through the ranks. Like Rangel, he began his political career as a liberal. In fact, he helped co-chaired the McGovern for President campaign in Western Massachusetts and was a Ted Kennedy DNC delegate in 1980. By 2020 when 30 year old progressive Holyoke mayor Alex Morse challenged him in the primary, there was no longer any of the old reformer left in Neal, who was already best known to the public as the Democrat who would kill Medicare-for-All in return for Big PhRMA lobbyist donations (though Bernie won his district in 2016). During that 2020 primary, Neal received the most PAC money of any candidate: $3.1 million in America. He was the only member of the Massachusetts 11 person House delegation to refuse to co-sponsor the Green New Deal. In 2019, we were already noting that there has long been “a whiff of corruption around Neal.” And, as it turns out, it was a very Rangel-like whiff. In October, Politico reported that once Neal became chair of the Ways and Means Committee, his 45 year old son Brendan started a lobbying firm to sell access to his father. Several corporations started funneling bribes to the older Neal through his son, notching wins in the committee, including protection of the carried interest loophole for private equity managers, expanded business tax credits, niche tax benefits for real-estate investments, broadcasters, and trial lawyers, and boons to the insurance industry. This month, the House Dems reappointed the grotesquely corrupt Neal as ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee, which, remember, has jurisdiction over the tax code and will be front and center in next year’s tax fight. He’s on the wrong side of the fence on the issues of achieving tax fairness and fighting the billionaire class.

Morris Pearl, the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, told his followers that “Exploding wealth inequality has corrupted our democracy with nearly limitless money from special interests flooding our political system. If the Ways and Means [Ranking Member] is a poster child for that corruption, and not a champion against it, Democrats will begin that fight on the defensive, and be unable to deliver on a central campaign promise to tax billionaires and corporations.”

Patriotic Millionaires has been calling on the House Ethics  Committee to investigate Neal and his family’s corruption. “Republicans want to extend Trump’s tax code next year, and when they do, Democrats need to be front and center in opposing and exposing their trillions in giveaways to corporations and the ultra-wealthy. If Democrats want to succeed, they cannot have their Ranking Member on the Ways and Means Committee be a poster child for corporate handouts and potential corruption. Trump wants to turn our country into an oligarchy. We must have uncompromised leadership leading this fight to stop him. Only an ethics investigation can clear Rep. Neal’s name.”

Oddly enough, in the world of politics making strange bedfellows, Musk has also started going after Neal, last week threatening to finance a primary against him— albeit not by a progressive— and calling him a “jackass.”

Another corrupt Pelosi ally who has worn out his usefulness to his own constituents, Neal's long tenure and high-ranking position in Congress have made him less accountable to the evolving needs of his district, particularly with the perception that he might be more focused on maintaining his influence within the Democratic party rather than either local or national issues. For example, legislation Neal moved forward barred the IRS from creating its own free tax filing system, a move that benefited private tax preparation companies like H&R Block and TurboTax, from which he received campaign donations, another example of prioritizing corporate interests over public service.

As in the case of Rangel so many years ago, Neal needs to be kicked off Ways and Means and then forced to retire from Congress. It’s time; it’s passed time. Is Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team up to the task? Ha!