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.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) held a press conference today and blasted the Washington Post for their recent "foundless" article which alleged that Rangel had used official stationary to solicit funds for an academic center bearing his name from individuals with business before his committee.

Rangel denies that the recipients had business before his committee and challenged the Post "to show one line in any of the letters" that he sent "where there's a solicitation for funds."

He also demanded, and welcomed, a probe by the House ethics committee into the Post's allegations:

So to that extent. . . another potential headline is, "Rangel Insists That the Ethics Committee Investigate the Unfounded Charges," because, first of all, nobody that can read is going to bring any charges against me, including The Washington Post, which, of course, I encourage them to do it, because then they have to follow their own foundless story, and at least that gets some coverage on this in The Washington Post.

Rangel's demand for an investigation by the ethics committee follows a similar request from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington yesterday. According to Melanie Sloane, executive director for CREW, Rangel might have something to worry about.

"It's not a close call," she said to the Post. "He's clearly violated the rule against using the letterhead.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) hasn't been having the best week. The House Ways and Means Committee Chairman relinquished his rent-controlled campaign office yesterday, after intense scrutiny in the wake of a New York Times article that exposed his holding of four rent-controlled apartments. And today, the congressman is facing the possibility of a House ethics probe after a Washington Post piece published yesterday, revealed he's been soliciting donations from corporations with business interests in front of his committee for an academic center that bears his name.

Known to Republican critics as the "Monument to Me," the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, caused controversy when Rangel gave it a $1.9 million earmark last year to start it.

Now, in an effort to raise more cash for the center, Rangel has been writing fundraising letters on his official House stationary to business leaders like Donald Trump and Hank Greenberg, former head of AIG, an current CEO of C.V. Starr & Co. If accurate, Rangel's fundraising letters violate a House rule that specifically bans the endorsement implied by the use of congressional stationary.

Rangel has raised $12 million for the project according to college officials interviewed by the Post. And not all of that has come from private donors:

The congressman has corralled more federal money as well, securing two Department of Housing and Urban Development grants totaling $690,500 to help renovate the college-owned Harlem brownstone that will house the center, according to HUD and school officials.

In response to Rangel's private fundraising, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the House minority leader have separately requested a probe from the House ethics committee. According to Melanie Sloane, executive director for CREW, Rangel's actions are obviously unethical:

"It's not a close call," she said. "He's clearly violated the rule against using the letterhead."