Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel Uses Office For Own Gain

Rangel is a typical politician who abuses his position.

Nothing surprising here, but you get a 10 for bringing out the info.

a dirty Democrat? no way...only Republicans would dare do that

What, no earmarks as well....

Isn't this the sort of thing we have come to expect? Come to me with a story about a very successful politician who does not have something of this sort in his past.

If you don't like this kind of thing read Invisible Hand to see what we could be doing about it so that such things would never happen again.

Yes there is a solution but it doesn't involve punishing anybody.

Hm.....

No surprises here. He has always been corrupt

The criminal dims have been in power long enough... two years and they can't do a damned thing except break laws and tear down America.

Completely unacceptable, if true. We need this entire filthy corrupt system dismantled and rebuilt. The revolution is nigh.

Funny though...I don't seem to recall the republicans howling about THEIR politicians while they were on the take. McCain STILL gets a free pass on that one, and he's the most visible republican out there. It's almost as if GOP faithful have an entirely different set of standards for democrats than they do for republicans, but that can't be, right?

Wait until Sept., when the Abramoff wormy can gets re-opened and we get to hear about yet MORE corrupt republicans involved in that one, including John McCain's efforts to bury the whole sordid, ugly truth about that mess. THEN, we'll get to see if the Polywonk's are REALLY upset about corruption, or if they're just worried about DEMOCRATIC corruption allegations.

" No surprises here. He has always been corrupt "

Documentation, please. If you're going to make a statement like that, you'd best put up some hard facts.

things have gone south since these dims took power in 2006.... American's have had enough.

Stunning.....No, wait, it is stunning at all...

http://politicalchatter.today.com/

donjnyjeffyboy , you just wait until we TRULY take power.:-)

" things have gone south since these dims took power in 2006"

What specific legislation is it that they've produced that has made "things go south," pray tell?

" No surprises here. He has always been corrupt "

I'm waiting with Clark to see the list (or even proof of this accusation). I have a feeling it will be a long wait.

While I am under no illusions that Charlie Rangel is that much better than other big city politicians, I can think of worse things than using Congressional influence to obtain denominations to an academic center. As a matter fact I find that a rather worthy cause regardless of whose name is on the institution, particularly if it is in Rangel's own district. Like many of our cities, the residents of New York need more access places of learning that are convenient to them rather than being located in places were non New Yorkers feel safer.

Would this be anything like offering meetings with top Bush administration officials in exchange for a large donation to the George W. Bush presidential library? Just trying to get a feel for how bad this might be.

To preserve his comic book collection.

Republicans are just a little more sly at keeping their dirty works hidden.

Has everyone forgotten the Bridge to Nowhere?

Unfortunately there seems to be no shortage of corruption on either side of the aisle. Maybe it's the system that is broken. I have a feeling it's not going to get fixed anytime soon though. More people vote in American Idol than in American elections and as long as people choose to be ignorant and abdicate their duty as citizens to be informed and vote accordingly, we will continue to be saddled with self-serving politicians and loudmouth, half-truth-telling, sleazy pundits in control of everything.

All Rangel is, is a Bushite Democrat and needs to be voted out of office. The Bushite cult crosses party lines. As evidenced by the fact that the Democrats voted for the FISA amendment, not the Republicans.

Clark, it is not the specific legislation the Democrats proposed but rather the legislaion they approved. With a majority they could have voted down anything yet they chose not to do so in direct contridiction to their campaign promises.

To my mind this corruption not a problem that is owned by the democrats, republicans, independents or green party (did I leave anyone out?). I tire of all this they "he said, she said". James Madison warned us in The Federalist Papers about the tyranny of factions, but did we listen? (ok I did) No, we did not! So instead of all this baiting why don't people get to the meat of the issue and discuss that?

Additionally, we tend to forget that our elected officials are not Kierkigardian (sorry if I used that incorrectly, but I think you catch my meaning) supermen. They are just as mortal and flawed as the rest of us. As for all of them being corrupt? Well it is not a good idea to talk in absolutes when discussing humans. I am just naive enough to think there is a possibility that there are at least one or two of them with a semblence of decency representing us.

Here, here Realist! I loved your comment "More people vote in American Idol than in American elections"! Sad, but probably true, I don't have the statistics right here. The truth shall set you free.

Poliwonk, I got so involved with reading your article and the responses people made to it, that I forgot to say thank you for sharing this with The Constitution And The Law!

I am not suprised

Would America be better off if the fools that vote on idol actually voted in an election?

Attention spans are too short.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25629176


While aggressive evictions are making rent-stabilized apartments increasingly scarce in New York, Representative Charles B. Rangel is enjoying four of them, including three adjacent apartments in a sprawling penthouse overlooking Upper Manhattan, courtesy of one of New York's premier real estate developers.

Mr. Rangel, the powerful Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, uses his fourth apartment, six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.

Mr. Rangel, who has a net worth of $566,000 to $1.2 million, according to Congressional disclosure records, paid a total rent of $3,894 monthly in 2007 for the four apartments at Lenox Terrace, a 1,700-unit, six-tower luxury development with doormen that is described in real estate publications as Harlem's most prestigious address. The current market-rate rent for similar apartments in the building would total $7,465 to $8,125 a month, according to the Web site of the owner, the Olnick Organization.

The Olnick Organization and other real estate firms have been accused of overzealous tactics as they move to evict tenants from their rent-stabilized apartments and convert them into market-rate housing.

"There are families who manage to get two, when one tenant marries another, things like that," said Dov Treiman, a lawyer who publishes The Housing Court Reporter, a legal trade publication. "But I've never heard of any tenant managing to get four."


And in fairness here's a local rent scandal involving Sen. Coleman.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20080628_2254.php

Later, in a prepared statement, Coleman said he moved into Larson's town house in a belt-tightening move to cut his living expenses; his previous apartment in Washington cost him $1,780 a month. Coleman's Senate salary is $169,300.

Meanwhile, Larson said that the town house arrangement was not a favor to Coleman. "I am not trying to peddle influence or get more business out of him, curry favor with him," Larson said. He said he was "merely trying to meet my mortgage.... I was thrilled that it worked out for him." Larson also described Coleman's living arrangements: "He has one bedroom in the back. I was actually surprised [the bed] fits into it. Somehow, he jumps into it at night and has just a bathroom, sink, and small refrigerator." He said that the apartment does not even have a stove.

Coleman is not wealthy--"I am not a millionaire," he said. Excluding his house in St. Paul, Coleman's largest asset is an individual retirement account valued at $615,000, according to his latest financial disclosure report, released in mid-June.

Coleman has a bedroom and a bathroom in Larson's town house and shares the remaining living space, which includes his old couch, table, and chairs, with FLS Connect. A company employee uses a portion of the apartment to work and take calls on some days, according to Larson. "There's no kitchen. There's a sink," Coleman said, in describing the apartment. "And there's a little refrigerator that I keep water in. There's no cooking, no nothing."

He insisted that Larson hadn't given him a special deal. Coleman said that before taking the place, he had consulted colleagues in Congress who rent rooms, and they, too, paid "600 bucks" a month in rent. "I went from having a place with a swimming pool and 24-hour service to literally a bedroom," Coleman told National Journal. "But that's all I need. Some of my colleagues live in their office."


Wonder which ones worse or are they both equal?

Would America be better off if the fools that vote on idol actually voted in an election?

Who says they don't? The number comparisons aren't fair, since each person gets a dozen or so votes on American Idol. And I don't think it's fair to assume that because someone enjoys a talent show s/he can't also be well informed politically. I do both.

American's have had enough.

That sentence doesn't make any sense.

IMO idol is a crap show on a crap network owned by a crap neocon.

Hey Don, I'll second that!

Here's a 10 for you!! Thank you for posting this to the Gimme 10!!! Group

Seems like most, not all politicians are corrupt. I have no proof on that, just my opinion.

Chuck Schumer just created a panic and caused the run on the IndyMac.... these are dimocrats at work, always tearing down this country.

Statement on Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service from The City College of New York

July 15, 2008

The City College of New York is proud to house the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, named after one of America's most distinguished public servants. The Center will help prepare students in our new bachelors and masters programs in public administration - particularly underrepresented minority students - for leadership positions in public service. It will enrich their preparation by providing scholarship, internship and research opportunities as well as hosting conferences on best practices in bring underrepresented groups into public service and other topics.

The Charles B. Rangel Library, centered on Congressman Rangel's archives from more than 40 years in public service, will be an important center for scholarship. In the long tradition of university centers like the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at The University of Michigan, the Rangel Center will provide our students with an important, inspirational role model and serve as a national center for promoting greater diversity in public service.


List Schools of Public Affairs and Other Facilities at Colleges and Universities Named for Elected Officials, by State

Arkansas
Clinton School of Public Service, University of Arkansas

California
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, University of California Los Angeles

Florida
Reuben O'D. Askew School of Public Policy, Florida State University
Claude Pepper Center for Intercultural Dialogue, Florida State University

Maine
Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine

Massachusetts
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Tip O'Neill Library, Boston College

Michigan
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, The University of Michigan

Missouri
Harry S. Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri, Columbia

New Jersey
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

New York
Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University
The Rockefeller Center of Public Affairs, SUNY Albany
Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, Hudson Valley Community College
Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, SUNY Stony Brook

Ohio
The John Glenn School of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University

Pennsylvania
H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University

South Carolina
Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs, Clemson University
Strom Thurmond Wellness & Fitness Center, University of South Carolina

Texas
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas, Austin

West Virginia
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University
Robert C. Byrd Center for Rural Health, Marshall University
Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies, Shepherd University

Sources: National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, college and university websites, Wikipedia.

Ellis Simon
Director of Public Relations
The City College of New York

" Chuck Schumer just created a panic and caused the run on the IndyMac.... these are dimocrats at work, always tearing down this country. "

Oh yes, of course...now the banking collapse, brought on directly as a result of Phil Gramm and his fellow republicans gutting banking regulatory oversight and creating a playground for them to gamble recklessly with people's money, is the democrat's fault. Unbelievable. Can't wait to see you neocon freaks start telling us all that democrats lied us into Iraq.




"Clark, it is not the specific legislation the Democrats proposed but rather the legislaion they approved."

The comment was that "things have gone south since the dims took power in 2006." However, as you and I both know full well, up until 2006, democrats were shut out of major committees, and had virtually zero power to do anything in congress, and since they were sworn in, in Jan. 2007, republicans have filibustered to block virtually every piece of legislation brought forth by democrats.

True, there has been some repulsive legislation that democrats have signed onto, but to pretend that the problems facing this country today are the direct result of democrats is simply factually untrue, at best.

Rangel also has four rent-controlled apartments, one of which he uses as an office. This is a violation of rent-control laws in NYC, and he is "giving up" that apartment. How is it that a local congressman is able to rent four "rent-controlled" apartments, in the first place? Well, he got in on the ground floor, of course. Not the ground floor of the building, of course. He has been part of the NYC "political machine" for a very long time.

NYC is the last city, or one of two that still have "rent control" regulations, in the nation. I know Boston did away with them years ago, so I think NYC is the last one. These laws were enacted during WWII, to keep housing affordable for a rapidly rotating population. Needless to say, the population wasn't as volatile after the war, and the rest of the country eliminated those laws, over time. In NYC, however, they were never abolished, and can be passed down to "inheritors," believe it or not. What's happened over the years is that many rich people live in rent-controlled apartments, while new tenants face $2,000 a month for a studio apartment.

I lived in a rent-controlled apt, on 73rd st. and Columbus ave, on the same block John Lennon lived (and was shot) on. We were paying $256 a month rent for a 1 bedroom, in the early '80's, which was ridiculously below market value, even back then. This situation came about through the liberal policies of the dominant political party; the Democrats.

While I'm grateful for the opportunity to have grown up in NYC, the policy has actually destroyed the NYC real estate market for all but the richest people. It's also the only place in the nation where the tenant has to pay a month's rent as a "fee" to the real estate agent, to find them an apartment. Everywhere else, the landlord pays the agent. This is truly an inverted situation, which is why Manhattan real estate is still booming, while the outer boroughs and the rest of the state are suffering like the rest of the country.

None of this is Rangel's fault, of course. He just took advantage of the Democrat's political machine, and is enjoying the perks he helped create, over the years. How did he do this? By feeding the local special interests, and excercising control over the city and state parties, as a congressman, and national party official. There is a pattern here, though I'm only citing his abuse of the "rent control" program.

When he finally achieved his lifetime goal, to head the Ways and Means committee, he decided to build his monument to himself, as all pols seem to feel the need to do. The college already has a center dedicated to Colin Powell , which shares the same mission as the Rangel center. This is a self-serving porkbarrell appropriation, and I guarantee every union in NYC is raking it in, BIG TIME, from this "center." That's all I have to say, and just for Clark and Sandy: I've forgotten more about Rangel's career than you've ever known.

Great post, Charles, as usual!

I do believe this is a great post.

It's sad that the big defense of Rangel seems to be "Well the Republicans do it too." And people wonder why this country is going to hell.

This comment is to let you know that this content has reached at least five votes and over 8.0 average rating, and as such has been removed from Rating Resurrectionists! Congratulations!