GOP LEADER ALERT 10-06-09

WILL HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTE TO PROTECT CHAIRMAN RANGEL AGAIN?

FAILURE TO PAY TAXES AND DISCLOSE INCOME, USING OFFICIAL LETTERHEAD TO RAISE MONEY FOR ‘MONUMENT TO ME’, CORPORATE-FUNDED TRIPS AMONG ACCUSATIONS RANGEL FACES

October 6, 2009
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
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Upon winning the majority in the 2006 election, Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that Democrats would usher-in “the most honest, the most open, the most ethical Congress in history.” Despite that well-known promise, however, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) remains as chairman of the Ways & Means Committee even though he faces serious charges that are now the subject of an Ethics Committee investigation. Moreover, Democrats have twice voted against resolutions calling for Rangel to step down as chairman until the investigation is complete. House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter (R-TX) announced last week his intention to offer another resolution this week to remove Rangel from his chairmanship pending completion of the investigation.

Before the House votes on a resolution, it might be helpful for the Majority Democrats to review the accusations facing Rangel:

Failure to report $75,000 in rental income on federal and state tax returns: The New York Times reported that Rangel “earned more than $75,000 in rental income from a villa he has owned in the Dominican Republic since 1988, but never reported it on his federal or state tax returns, according to a lawyer for the congressman and documents from the resort.” Rangel also “paid no interest for more than a decade on a mortgage” for the villa and “the loan was given to him by the resort development company, in which Theodore Kheel, a prominent New York labor lawyer, was a principal investor. Mr. Kheel, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel’s campaigns over the past decade.”

Agreed to preserve a tax break that would benefit a supporter who on the same day pledged to give $1 million to Rangel’s ‘Monument to Me’: As the New York Times reported, Rangel agreed “to preserve a tax loophole for an oil-drilling company at the same time that its chief executive pledged $1 million to a City College of New York school that will bear the congressman’s name.”

Used official congressional letterhead to solicit support for his ‘Monument to Me’: The Washington Post reported that Rangel “penned letters on congressional stationery and has sought meetings to ask for corporate and foundation contributions for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York, a project that caused controversy last year when he won a $1.9 million congressional earmark to help start it.”

Rented four rent-stabilized apartments: As the New York Times reported, Rangel had four rent-stabilized apartments “including three adjacent units on the 16th floor overlooking Upper Manhattan” and “six floors below, as a campaign office, despite state and city regulations that require rent-stabilized apartments to be used as a primary residence.” Rangel “paid a total rent of $3,894 monthly in 2007 for the four apartments” even though the “current market-rate rent for similar apartments in Mr. Rangel’s building would total $7,465 to $8,125 a month.” Rangel later relinquished the apartment used as a campaign office.

Took at least two corporate-funded trips: As The Hill newspaper reported, the funding of trips Rangel took to the Caribbean raise questions about whether the trips violated “a two-year-old ethics rule passed after Democrats regained the House.” A major airline “provided in-kind donations of tickets for Rangel and five other members of Congress to fly from their districts to St. Martin.” According to ethics experts, the donation of tickets “for members to use for a specific trip is a clear violation of House ethics rules governing travel.”

Failed to disclose millions of dollars in income and assets: The New York Post reported that Rangel “failed to report as much as $1.3 million in outside income -- including up to $1 million for a Harlem building sale -- on financial-disclosure forms he filed between 2002 and 2006, according to newly amended records.” Rangel also “lowballed his income by as much as $70,000 in 2002, $46,000 in 2003 and $117,000 in 2006” and in 2004 “Rangel left off his disclosure form as much as $430,000 in stock transactions.” CBS News reported that Rangel also omitted a checking account worth more than $250,000.