He’s not a “savior”, he’s a crook.

“Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor’s mansion.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation’s most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan’s major bridges and tunnels.

But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.

Now the U.S. attorney is investigating his nonprofit group, an inquiry that an undeterred Sharpton brushes off as the kind of annoyance that civil rights figures have come to expect from the government.

“Whatever retaliation they do on me, we never stop,” Sharpton said. “I think that that is why they try to intimidate us.”

Just like Sharpton to claim prosecution. The fact is he’s a crook, the old fashion garden variety tax cheat, and it’s been going on for a while.

“Sharpton’s own debts include $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax, according to a lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service last spring. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state another $175,962 in delinquent taxes.”

..In 1990, he was acquitted of tax fraud and charges that he stole from one of his charities. He followed that up with what was essentially another victory in a tax case by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a state return.”

Here’s to hoping to that U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell does the right thing and refer charges to this tax cheat.