Results tagged “charlesrangel”

The Post reports that Rep. Charles Rangel "was inducted last week into the Order of Jamaica, the Caribbean commonwealth's highest distinction and the equivalent of knighthood," and then mocks, "The Gallant Knight of 125th Street -- who also holds distinguished titles such as Duke of Tax Dodge, Lord of Largesse and Sultan of Sweetheart Deals -- will join a list of other Order of Jamaica" like "Fidel Castro and murderous Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe." Plus, there's this amazing photoillustration of Rangel with dreadlocks, a scepter and crown!

Rep. Charles Rangel is the Teflon Rep! Even though he apparently knows nothing about paying his own taxes, he's keeping the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee—which is involved with the country's tax code!

The Washington Post devoted an editorial to repeat something it did in November: Ask Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) to "step aside as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee." This comes after last week's revelations that Rangel amended his financial reports, suddenly realizing there's $500,000 or maybe even over $1 million in assets he hadn't disclosed a few years ago.

News about Rep. Charles Rangel's assets—and his problems disclosing them—continues to trickle in. After adding $500,000 in previously undisclosed assets to his 2007 finance report, the Post revealed that he also forgot to disclose the sale of a Harlem townhouse—worth as much as $1.3 million—and also that he "failed to reveal a staggering $3 million in various business transactions over the same period." This, from the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee!

Oh, Charlie! Rep. Charles Rangel, the powerful Democrat from Harlem who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, has now added "more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets" in an amended 2007 financial report. According to CQ Politics, among the additions are "an account at the Congressional Federal Credit Union worth at least $250,000, an investment account with at least $250,000, land in southern New Jersey and stock in PepsiCo and fast food conglomerate Yum! Brands. None of those investments appeared on the original report, which was filled out by hand and filed in May 2008."

Charlie Rangel might have apologized for sticking his foot in his mouth last week while joking about the accidental police shooting in East Harlem, but that hasn't caused the congressman to lay low when it comes to speaking his mind to the press. Last night he was a guest on Dominic Carter's on NY1 and Rangel further inserted himself into the political chess game that seems to be going on between Governor Paterson and Andrew Cuomo over just who will end up representing Democrats in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Rangel said, "You cannot support the governor, prepare for reelection and at the same time say that you're keeping your options open for a primary. I think that there might be an inclination for racial polarization in a primary in the state of New York." Those last words sound pointed toward Cuomo, who was accused of just that sort of polarizing behavior in 2002 when he kept alive a bid to challenge Carl McCall for the party's nomination longer than many Democrats would have liked.

Rep. Charles Rangel apologized for his eyebrow-raising remarks on Saturday that suggested President Obama wouldn't be safe in Harlem. The Congressman said today, "It was entirely inappropriate to bring the President and his wife into this discussion during their visit to New York, and I hope my off-the-cuff comment did not cause embarrassment to anyone."

To no one's surprise, Rep. Charles Rangel's "advice" to President Obama (a Daily News reporter asked what Obama should do during his NYC visit)—"Make certain he doesn't run around in East Harlem unidentified," a reference to the fatal shooting of police officer Omar Edwards by another cop—made some waves. Mayor Bloomberg said today, "I have a lot of respect for Charlie Rangel, but in this case, he’s just plain wrong...This was a tragedy. Our Police Department is diverse and they train; sometimes things happen and they’re inexplicable. There’s no reason to suspect this had any racial overtones." And the Post, no fan of Rangel, called it a "sick joke" and got a quote from an unnamed police union official: "If Congressman Rangel said ... 'and waving a gun' he might be correct" (Edwards, who was off-duty, had his gun drawn when he was shot; he was pursing a man suspected of breaking into his car).

At today's rally for Omar Edwards, the off-duty police officer who was killed by another cop in East Harlem, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) was asked if he had advice to give President Obama, who is visiting NYC this evening. The Daily News reports that Rangel delivered a "snide" answer, "Make certain he doesn't run around in East Harlem unidentified." Edwards, who was black, had been chasing a man suspected of breaking into his car; he was out of uniform with his gun drawn when he was fatally shot by a white officer. Rangel, who wants a federal investigation of the shooting, also said, "If you become an officer and you have a pistol and you are of color, in or out of uniform, your chances of getting shot down by a police officer are a lot heavier than if you were not of color." Photo: jschumacher on Flickr

Rep. Charles Rangel introduced the bill that would tax 90% of employee bonuses given by firms that received bailout money and excoriated the companies, "These people are getting away with murder. They’re getting paid for the destruction they’ve caused to our communities." Yet the NY Times finds that Rangel's relationship with Wall Street bullseye target-of-the-week A.I.G. is "complicated": "As recently as last year, he was trying to woo the company to donate $10 million to a school to be named in his honor. And while A.I.G. officials mulled the request, Mr. Rangel supported a provision in a tax bill that saved the company millions of dollars."

Representative Charles Rangel kept his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee after his fellow Democrats voted down a Republican-backed measure that would have removed him from his post. Rangel is the subject of a House ethics investigation, after reports of his four rent-stabilized apartments, use of House letterhead to solicit donations for a graduate center being named after him and various tax issues. The AP reports, "The House ethics committee voted to reauthorize a subcommittee of three Democrats and three Republicans to investigate Rangel, a New York Democrat who has served in Congress for nearly 40 years. The investigation began last year — at Rangel's request — but the subcommittee needed reauthorization because a new Congress was sworn in last month."

For the latter half of Charles Rangel's adult life, he's averaged just about one omission a year when filing his taxes. A private government ethics group reported to the ongoing House investigation on Rangel yesterday disclosed their discovery that Rangel has failed to account for more than $239,000 in assets over the last 30 years. He has listed many assets over the years without disclosing when he acquired them.

The ongoing ethics investigation of local Congressman Charles Rangel appears to be going nowhere in a hurry. Today's Post talks to the head of an ethics watchdog group who says, "Four months after the investigations started, there is no investigative subcommittee, no public hearings, and no sign of any progress whatsoever." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had expected members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigating by the end of the session which ended earlier this month. But since that did not happen, the process will only be delayed further now that three of the four members looking into were rotated off with a new session of Congress in place. The Post sounds eager to see the probe take place in swift fashion, possibly because they've played no small role in prompting the investigation to begin with.

After what had been a scandal-plagued year for House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, the local congressman must have been looking to turn over a new leaf in 2009. But it only took three days into the new year to find his name making headlines for murky dealings—this time with a potential conflict of interest in soliciting charitable donations from the recently bailed out insurance giant AIG. And this time it's not even the Post breathing down Rangel's neck as usual, but an investigative cover story in today's New York Times.

Did you know that donations to politicians can be used to pay off their parking tickets? Apparently embattled Rep. Charles Rangel has paid off some 2007 parking violations (with his PT Cruiser!) in D.C. by using campaign money. A Rangel spokesman said there's "nothing unethical" about that, especially, as the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington points out, "if [the tickets] were incurred during campaign activities or in relation to Rangel’s position as an officeholder." His office told CREW, "Given the holidays and the press of business in preparation for the new administration, we have not reconstructed the circumstances behind each ticket. However, Congressman Rangel is confident that the National Leadership PAC and Rangel for Congress complied with all applicable laws and regulations in connection with these expenses, which were fully reported consistent with FEC requirements.” In NYC, Rangel rides around in a Cadillac DeVille.

City College of New York told the NY Times the opening reception for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service would be delayed. The decision was made “by mutual agreement between the congressman’s office and the college." Earlier this week, the House ethics committee announced it would expand the probe into Rep. Rangel's dealings. Previously, the committee was investigating his (1) use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for the CCNY graduate school, (2) four rent-stabilized apartments, and (3) non-payment of taxes on rental income from a vacation villa; now the committee will look at, per Rangel's request, charges that he helped preserve a tax loophole for an oil company whose chief executive donated $1 million to the Rangel Center.

Representative Charles Rangel is a just a magnet for media investigation these days! The NY Times questioned his four rent-stabilized apartments and, more recently, a large donation to a school being named after him; the Post found out about his vacation villa and unreported income from it. Now it's Politico which does some digging about campaign websites Rangel's son created for his dad.

It's politician vs. big newspaper pissing match! Representative Charles Rangel wasn't happy when the NY Times blew the lid on his four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem (at a press conference, he told a Times reporter, "Don’t make yourself look more dumb than you want") over the summer.

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement saying she expected the ethics committee investigation into Rep. Charles Rangel by January 3, 2009: "I look forward to reviewing the report at that time." The ethics panel is looking into three things: Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations to City College's school of public service (which is being named after him); his four rent-stabilized apartments; and unreported income from his vacation villa in the Dominican Republic. As allegations and questions have accumulated over recent months (most recently, about a $1 million donation to the school from an oil executive), Rangel has denied any wrongdoing and has been allowed to keep his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in the meantime.

After the NY Times reported Rep. Charles Rangel helped preserve a tax loophole for an oil executive who donated $1 million to a school named after Rangel, Republicans are asking for a House Ethics Committee investigation. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) said, "Charlie Rangel needs to resign as Ways and Means Committee chairman," and nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said, "Representative Rangel’s ethics problems continue to mount, yet the ethics committee and the Democratic leadership remain silent." Rangel denied securing the tax break in return for the donation, but it seems his legal bills are likely to pile up. Speaking of, the Daily News reports that he fired his old lawyer, Clinton friend Lanny Davis because Davis's bills were really high!

Today in the ongoing examination into Rep. Charles Rangel's dealings, the NY Times wonders--on the front page-- about a pledged $1 million donation to a City College school of public service (being named after Rangel) from a oil executive. Eugene Isenberg, who has paid $200,000 of the donation so far, heads an oil drilling company Nabors Industries which dodged "tens of millions" in retroactive tax payments, thanks to Rangel. Nabors' practice of operating a Caribbean office to "reduce their federal tax payments" was targeted, but Rangel worked to keep the tax shelter--"Mr. Rangel said he stood with Nabors because, as much as he was offended by the company’s attempts to get around some of its United States taxes, he thought it wrong to impose a retroactive tax increase." Naturally, Rangel and Isenberg deny any wrongdoing , but read the article for other details--it's fascinating (and long).

Inquiries are being made both internally and externally following yesterday's report of Charles Rangel's latest tax headache--this time surrounding questions of Rangel taking an "homestead" tax break on his D.C. home by claiming it was his primary residence--while primarily residing in Harlem at the time. The Post reports that watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center is filing a House Ethics Committee complaint against the congressman. And Rangel's own lawyer announced that his (in)famous accountant will review the situation, telling the Times, “The New York Post has raised a question about the tax treatment of a property the Rangels once owned. The property was sold more than eight years ago and we have asked Congressman Rangel’s accountant to retrieve the records about it.”

Just days after Representative Charles Rangel was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, the NY Post reports on another possible headache for the Harlem Congressman.

It seems like sources close to Governor Paterson are playing a game of "America's Next Top (Junior) Senator" the way they leak a new candidate to the media every couple of days. Today's contestant is the Charlie Rangel-supported Leecia Eve, an attorney who served as a policy adviser and worked on the presidential campaign for Senator Clinton. She also fits two of the demographics Paterson is said to be courting with the pick--an upstater (she's from Buffalo) and a woman (see photo). Now if only Eve found a long-lost Latino ancestor, she'd surely be a shoe-in. Eve was originally going to run for lieutenant governor in 2006 until Eliot Spitzer backed Paterson and prompted her to drop out of the race. Earlier this week, many of the other Top Senator contestants were together with Paterson in a closed-door meeting.

Despite falling into a heap of controversy over the summer that led to a congressional investigation at his own request, Congressman Charles Rangel will hold onto his prestigious position as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Despite GOP Leader John Boehner calling for his removal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats unanimously voted to keep him as chair. Rangel said that he would like to see the alternative minimum tax eliminated, but generally supports the Obama tax plan--something he will have sway over within the committee that oversees tax regulation. And when asked what Rangel would like from whomever Obama chooses as the next Secretary of the Treasury, Rangel responded, “Him sharing with me whether [Henry] Paulson makes any sense at all," saying that Americans losing their jobs and health benefits were not on Paulson's agenda whatsoever.

Politicker NY's Azi Paybarah was on the scene at 134th in Harlem when Representative Charles Rangel and his wife Alma went to vote at 6 a.m. and reports Rangel was thrilled with the line: "This is beautiful. This is exciting.. Who would have thought it? I've never seen anything like this." Rangel, who also said he was confident with Barack Obama's chances, was also overheard saying, "Those Europeans never thought the slaves would be in charge."

The NY Post takes up the marriage of Representative Charles Rangel and Alma Rangel, aftertalking to Mrs. Rangel's lawyer who says Rangel "scorned and dumped" his wife of 42 years after becoming the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee--by filing for divorce. Lawyer Sherri Donovan said that's why Alma Rangel demanded a jury case, "She did not want this divorce. She wanted to stay married to him. She's been a loyal wife for a long time." Then last month, Rangel stopped divorce proceedings, as reports questioned his taxes and other dealings. In fact, Rangel's lawyer blamed the non-reporting of income tax on a vacation villa on Alma Rangel and an accountant. When asked if Rangel's change of tune was related to the ethics issues, Donovan said, "Who knows? Maybe that made him real. Or maybe he realized he needs her." Rangel's own lawyer said, "It's very unfair for The Post to do this story and sad that it considers this legitimate journalism."

Upon outrage over news that he occupied four rent-stabilized apartments, Representative Charles Rangel said in July he would give up one used as a campaign office. Now, two and a half months later, Rangel's campaign office is still at Lenox Terrace, according to the NY Post. A lawyer for Rangel, who pays $630/month while the unit's market value is $1,700-2,005 (and rent stabilization only applies to residential use), says, "The campaign identified a new office in a newly restored brownstone in Harlem within three weeks of Mr. Rangel's announcement that he was leaving the Lenox Terrace space. The campaign will be the first tenants in the building, and it had to wait for the construction to be completed." But a government watchdog group thinks Rangel is being "disingenuous."

While they're not trying to, uh, agree on a bailout plan for financial firms, two Democrats and two Republicans are investigating Representative Charles Rangel for the House Ethics Committee. The Post reports that Rangel has "crossed paths" with the four men, not surprising given how long he's served. And his relations with them range from Rangel contributing to one's campaign fund (that would be Gene Green, D-Texas) to someone who has wanted an investigation into the Harlem congressman for a while (Doc Hastings, R-Washington). And on Tuesday, the Washington Post said Rangel should stay put, as the ethics committee gets working, "If it's death by a thousand cuts, [then Rangel] has 994 to go."

The House Ethics Committee voted to begin an inquiry on Representative Charles Rangel's actions. Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a center being built in his honor, multiple rent-stabilized apartments, unreported income from a second home, and other unreported income from property sales have put the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee under the microscope (in many of the cases, Rangel has pleaded ignorance). Rangel's lawyer said, "We look forward to fully cooperating with the ethics committee, which we had previously asked to look into these matters. We hope and trust that the ethics committee will find that Mr. Rangel has done nothing intentionally wrong, which we firmly believe.”