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Publicly Challenged, Washington Post Reveals Rangel's Letters On Official Letterhead
Just a day after Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) challenged the Washington Post to produce the letters he'd allegedly written on official stationary seeking cash for the academic center bearing his name, the newspaper has come through -- posting four such missives on their website.
Rangel uses his congressional letterhead and says he wants to "schedule a meeting" to talk about the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service. The letters don't explicitly state that he is seeking money.
They include:
* March 2007 letter requesting a meeting with David Rockefeller; the Rockefeller Brothers Fund donated $50,000 to CCNY* March 2007 letter requesting meeting with Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, chairman of C.V. Starr Foundation; the foundation donated $5 million to CCNY
* March 2007 letter requesting a meeting with Donald Trump; Trump has not donated to the project
* June 2005 letter to about 100 foundation leaders seeking "a dialogue with you on the funding of the Rangel Center concept in the coming weeks and months." The letter helped generate contributions totaling more than $1.6 million from four foundations.
Josh
Zachary
This is disappointing to me...I've always had a pretty high opinion of Rangel. I'm sure the Republicans are going to use this to hit the Dems over the head with...
But Charlie's standing in his district and his electability will probably not suffer...the damage is to the Dem brand nationally.
July 18, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't we learn something from the Rove years and the 2006 mandate for change:
The "Dems" need to take the high road, not remain loyal to their party, and enforce the law and House Rules. Let's consider this change [added, changed]:Claiming something is or could be a "partisan" attack is a partisan statement. Weren't the Dems and Repubs supposed to cooperate and be civil? The President hasn't fulfilled that promise; the Congress should not feel bound to an agreement to respond in kind.July 18, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
This doesn't surprise me the least bit. Rangel is the dean of the Harlem political mob, and there has always been a bunch of shady operations going. This is the stuff of local politics, but if he'es getting four rent stabilized apartments, at less than market price, why would this surprise people.
Rangel has been in office since he booted out Adam Clayton Powell in the early 1970s, and Powell, though he was corrupt, was a more effective congressman than the whole CBC. Powell, as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committe, was respnonsible for passing a good deal of the Great Society programs and other programs we now take for granted: Medicare, Headstart, CPB/PBS, etc.
Put another way, Rangel is just typical Democratic pol who just happens to be black. He's been in office for over thirty years and should have been gone years ago.
Now, that he's sitting on the House Ways and Means Committee, as the chairman, he probably feels it is get-over time.
July 18, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with most of what you are saying here...
Cahrlie is old style politics and past his time in congress but he is likely safe from any threats to his seat.
July 18, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
This nonsense reminds me of the Gore slapdown for making telephone calls from the OVP that could technically be interpreted as political.
What happened to Lurita for her Hatch Act violations?
I don't recall anything happening to Rove for doing fishy things in the White House "batcave" on election night, do you? (What vote flipping operation was at his command in his secret lair, I wonder.)
Oh, I forgot. The nation is being run by the untouchables, so it doesn't matter. I won't concern myself with these things.
July 18, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Flashingback on the franking priviledges scandal that gave us Kermit the Frog's Contract on America . . .
This is not Rangel's first dance with ethical grayness. He has put out some good work-product over the years but is totally stuck in old school ways.
July 18, 2008 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
"What happened to Lurita for her Hatch Act violations?
I don't recall anything happening to Rove for doing fishy things in the White House "batcave" on election night, do you? "
Yep... their crooks are worse than my crooks, so we shouldn't harp on my crooks...
you can see this in prison all the time..
HE did this and that. He deserved what I did to him. I'm not the bad guy. He got what was coming to him...
Too bad the reality is that they were BOTH bad folks andf deserved to be in prison... IMHO
July 18, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe I'm just obtuse.. but I just don't understand what the problem is here. Is it because the center is named after him? Would this be a problem otherwise? In general, I think we should want our pols to advocate for non-profits in their districts. Do we prefer earmarks? In fact, CCNY is a public institution, not a private endeavor. If this is about appearance, its silly. Enlighten me, please.
Rock over London, rock on Chicago.
July 18, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
@ Matty Rich
The problem is that he's soliciting funds from corporations, businesses, foundations that his committee oversees; entities whose business depend on changes regarding tax policies, and he's using Congressional letterhead for none congressional business.
Asking such entities is NOT the congressional business of the chairman of that committee. If he wants to do that he should do so on his own time and not use his office to do so.
You are not even allowed to give the appearance of impropriety.
Don't you think is odd that a sitting congressman is asking corporations to pony up money for a school/center that bears his name?
July 19, 2008 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink