House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel is back in the news again, after it was discovered that he has been soliciting donations from businesses who have interests before the committee, for a new academic center which will bear his name.
Earlier this month, Rep. Charles Rangel made the news for having four rent stabilized apartments
in Lenox Terrace, a luxury development in Harlem as Sadiq Green (Spolitics)
reported. One of these was used for Rangel's campaign office.
It's since come to light that Rangel has been
soliciting donations for the building of
the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. This same project won a $1.9 million congressional earmark that had created controversy last year. Certain critics have called Rangel's pet project a "Monument to Me".
The thing that has heads turned in his direction is that he's been using his office letterhead to solicit these funds, which is barred by congressional rules. Letters that have used this same stationary have gone out to business leaders the likes of
Donald Trump and
Hank Greenburg (both open as a pdf), who is a former head of AIG, the insurance and financial services giant.
Rangel, the New York Democrat, has raised grants totaling $690,500 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development toward the renovation of
the college-owned Harlem brownstone that will house the center. So far, Rangel has helped to raise around $12 million toward the $30 million goal.
In the letter to Donald Trump, Rep. Charles Rangel wrote,
"It is a personal dream of mine to see this Center at City College, which resides in my congressional district and where so many talented young men and women from the community have gotten an excellent education."
Government watchdogs and experts in ethics both feel that it's "troubling" that a man with the status of Rangel would solicit funds from businesses which have interests in front of his committee. This committee has a
broad jurisdiction over tax policy, trade, Social Security and Medicare. Many feel that that he has crossed the line and are afraid that Rangel could channel public money to this project instead of more worthy causes.
F. Christopher Arterton, dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, said,
"Charlie Rangel is a prominent public servant and may deserve a center at City College. . . . But I think one has to be careful about how one raises the money for that. The danger is that it begins to blur the lines between whether a quid pro quo is implied by this or not."
Rangel's response was,
"In the 38 years that I've been down here, I don't think there has ever been any challenge, real or unreal, to my integrity as it relates to fundraising," he said. He added: "If it was an ethical problem, I wouldn't do it.
Rangel has also stated that he would still raise money for this project even though it did not bear his name,
because he believes in its mission of promoting racial diversity in public administration leadership.
The government watchdog group, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said yesterday that it will file an ethics complaint
alleging that Rangel's use of the congressional letterhead violated the rules. The rules state:
"No letterhead or envelope used in a solicitation may bear the words 'Congress of the United States,' 'House of Representatives' or 'Official Business,' nor may the letterhead or envelope bear the Seal of the United States, the Congress, or the House."
Rangel told the New York Post
yesterday that these rules have left him unsure of what is allowed, saying that,
"The laws have been so vague in what we can solicit for not-for-profits that I am certain that they're making them up as we go along."
Update:
Rep. Charles Rangel has called upon the House ethics committee to investigate his method of fund raising. During a press conference this morning,
Rangel went after the Washington Post for having reported that he'd sent out letters on official stationary trying to solicit money for the center that is to bear his name. As well, he asked reporters to "attack" the Washington Post and Christopher Lee, who wrote the article.
"The review should be done as soon as possible so as to clear up any misunderstandings regarding my efforts to convene meeting to discuss partnerships between educational institutions and the private sector," Rangel said in a statement released at the press conference.
"I believe the review will show there have been no violations of the [House ethics] rules."
Rangel still believes that he has not violated any rules.
Within this article is an update, stating that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has stated that she supports Rangel's request for the investigation.
