Charlie Rangel is a horrible congressman because he's hopelessly corrupt and doesn't pay his taxes. But he's popular in Harlem, so the only guy rising to unseat him is the son of the horrible congressman that Rangel unseated.

Harlem basically just gets a revolving cast of corrupt and entitled congressmen, most of them from the same families. And so it is that New York Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV announced today that he is seeking Rangel's congressional seat. Rangel should be defeated, because he lives in four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem provided by a campaign donor while his net worth is north of $1 million ($500,000 of which he failed to disclose in 2007) and he didn't pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic.

But it would be kind of sad if he were defeated by Powell, who changed his last name (Diago) to make it more like that of his legendary father, who was drummed out of Congress in 1967 for keeping his third wife, Diago/Powell IV's mother, on his congressional payroll in a ghost job, and fought his way back only to be defeated by Rangel in 1970. Powell IV was convicted of driving while impaired in 2008; he was seen driving erratically in a rented sedan with a female passenger who was so incapacitated that officers sent her to a hospital for observation. Also, two women have accused Powell IV of rape.

Viva democracy.