When I was a kid I enjoyed watching “The Three Stooges.” Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we’d have their equivalent in charge of America’s finances.

The “Moe, Larry and Curly” I have in mind? Christopher Dodd, Charles Rangel, and Timothy Geithner. All tainted by scandal, all–in an age of leftist euphoria–immune from serious scrutiny and/or well-deserved prosecution. The details:

–Christopher Dodd (D-CN), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Beneficiary of two “VIP mortgages” from Countrywide Financial CEO Angelo Mozillo. What is a VIP mortgage? One that waives, points, lenders fees and company borrowing rules for “very important people.” Savings for Dodd? Approximately $75,000.

An amazing “coincidence?” Dodd was overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac subprime loans–loans on which Countrywide Financial made millions. Internal documents and emails at Countrywide referred to clients like Dodd as F.O.A.s–as in friends of Angelo. Dodd promised to release documents regarding the arrangements.

America’s still waiting for that promise to be fulfilled, Senator.

–Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee. Owner of a beachfront villa at the Punta Cana Resort & Club. $75,000 in rental income goes unreported. Rangel’s excuse? He was “unaware” of the situation. “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish,” Rangel told a Capitol Hill news conference.

Rep. Rangel also owned four rent-controlled apartments in NYC, one of which was used for an office–a direct violation of NYC’s rent-control laws, and he is being investigated for receiving a homestead exemption on a house he owned in Washington D.C. while living in those apartments.

Other Rangel “irregularities?” Using a House of Representative parking lot for long-term storage in violation of Congressional rules, and using Congressional Stationery to solicit donations for a City College of New York project to be named in his honor–while making efforts to preserve a tax loophole for an oil company whose CEO pledged a million dollars to the project.

Rangel’s attitude regarding his “lapses?” His spokesman: “(The Congressman) has no intention of allowing the ethics inquiry to overshadow his legislative agenda. There are more important things going on right now.”

That “ethics inquiry?” According to the NY Post, “the panel created on Sept. 24 to probe the Harlem Democrat’s alleged ethical lapses has been virtually disbanded, after meeting only twice in four months on the matter…the dormant investigation won’t be jump-started until three incoming ethics committee members are assigned to the Rangel probe later this month.”

In the meantime, Rangel remains in charge of the House Ways and Means Committee–which crafts the nation’s tax codes.

–Timothy Geithner. Newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, despite his failure to pay $34,000 in federal taxes over a four year period. Geithner paid back taxes on ‘03 and’04 returns after 2006 IRS audit–but failed to report same problem on ‘01 and ‘02 returns until vetting by the Obama transition team found the same problem.

All mistakes Geithner made have been referred to as “innocent” or “honest” by the administration–apparently including the listing of money he spent sending his child to sleep-away camp as a “dependent care tax credit.” There will be no criminal consequences for Geithner’s “lapses.”

Part of Geithner’s job? Overseeing the IRS–a tax cheat in charge of the tax collection agency.

Two thoughts comes to mind. One is the obvious double-standard that accrues to ethically (and perhaps criminally)-challenged liberals and Democrats in comparison with their Republican counterparts. It is impossible to imagine that the deferential and preferential treatment these three men have received would have been equally applied to a Republican Senate Banking Chairman, a Republican House Ways and Means Chairman or the Treasury Secretary nominee of a Republican administration. It is impossible to imagine the mainstream media taking the same blase’ approach to these scandals if three of the federal government’s most critical players in the fiscal arena had an “R” after their name.

Two, it seems as if we are living in an age where ethical and criminal lapses by government officials are the norm, not the exception–and where consequences for one’s actions are waived in direct proportion to the “importance” of the people involved. Ordinary Americans doing what these three men have done would receive vastly different treatment–including fines and, perhaps, even a stint in jail.

Such differences in treatment have profound implications. Already, some people being investigated for tax evasion (Bernie Kerik in NY comes to mind) are demanding to be treated “exactly like the Treasury Secretary was.” And if more and more Americans decide that “justice” is a relative term, the basis on which this nation was founded–the rule of law, not men–becomes jeopardized.

Dodd, Rangel and Geithner are high-profile reminders that we are nation which will continue to deteriorate as long as morality remains negotiable in direct proportion to ideological affiliation and/or societal status.

Moe, Larry and Curly were good for a laugh. Charley, Chris and Tim make me want to weep for my country.

atahlert@comcast.net

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