Charlie Rangel - NY

[mimi]

Charges against Rangel unveiled after efforts to reach settlement fail

By Paul Kane, Ben Pershing and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 29, 2010; 6:15 PM

excerpt:

The 13 counts included those allegations, plus charges that Rangel violated the code of providing faithful government services, House rules on soliciting donations and franking rules. He was also accused of multiple violations of a ban on receiving gifts.

Specifically, the investigative subcommittee found that Rangel broke multiple House rules in his efforts to create and fund the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, including provisions governing gifts to members and use of official resources for unofficial activities. The probe showed that Rangel frequently solicited donations from lobbyists and companies with interests before his Ways and Means Committee.
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The ethics panel reported that Rangel asked his congressional staff to produce "a list of potential donors to the Rangel Center. The work was done on property of the House of Representatives, on official House time and with the use of official House resources." Rangel also sent letters on congressional letterhead to potential donors, along with a brochure requesting a gift of $30 million, or $6 million per year for five years.

The report also outlines Rangel's dealings with Eugene Isenberg, the chief executive of Nabors Industries. Isenberg and his company pledged a combined $1 million to the Rangel Center, the subcommittee said, and in subsequent meetings Isenberg and Rangel discussed "the retroactivity of tax provisions related to inverted companies" -- a change in tax laws that would benefit Nabors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

If this is true, I think he should have resigned before it came to this.

[ducktape]

If this is true, I think he should have resigned before it came to this.

I wish he had. I liked Charlie Rangel, but I don't like the "hey, it's OK if it's our crook." That's for Republicans, not good guys.

[mimi]

Obama: Time for Rangel to end career "with dignity"

President Barack Obama has kept mum on the fate of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) for days -- but he tells CBS News that it's time for the embattled 80-year-old former Ways and Means Chairman to end his career "with dignity."

"I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served-- his constituents very well. But these-- allegations are very troubling," Obama told Harry Smith in an interview to be aired on the "Early Show." and first broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

"And he'll-- he's somebody who's at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I'm sure that-- what he wants is to be able to-- end his career with dignity. And my hope is that-- it happens. "

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/ ... gnity.html

What happens? Does he serve out his term?

This piece talks about his primary challenger.

Only one of Rangel’s four primary opponents has significant name recognition in the district: Adam Clayton Powell IV, whose father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., served for decades before Rangel trounced him in 1970 – three years after he was stripped of his committee chairmanship (and was later expelled from the House altogether), a ghost of elections past that many insiders say haunts the dean of the New York delegation.

Powell, though, has had own issues in public life. Years ago he was accused of, and then exonerated on, rape charges, and earlier this year faced a trial for a two-year-old DWI bust. He was acquitted of that charge, but found guilty of driving while impaired.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40479.html

okay then.