Rangel keeps local support

By GARY WECKSELBLATT
The Intelligencer

Two local congressional Democrats have voted to keep House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel in his post until an ethics committee completes an investigation into his financial and tax filings, real estate deals and fundraising for an academic center that bears his name.

Rangel, head of the committee that writes the nation’s tax laws, has himself called for a probe after admitting his failure to disclose more than $75,000 in rental income from his vacation home in the Dominican Republic and said he had paid no interest on the villa’s mortgage.

He also received favored treatment in occupying four rent-stabilized apartments in a luxury development in Manhattan, and owned up to his improper use of official letterheads to solicit support from charities and corporations for an academic center to memorialize his career in public service — the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service.

Thursday, as the Democratic controlled House voted along party lines — 226 to 176 — to kill a Republican effort to force him from his leadership post, Rangel’s vintage 1972 Mercedes-Benz was towed from the House of Representatives parking space he had been using for years in violation of congressional rules.

Rangel, 78, who said he was hiring a forensic accountant to investigate 20 years’ worth of his tax returns and financial disclosure reports, remains a major draw at fundraisers for his colleagues. A member of the House for 38 years, he has given out more than $900,000 to 100 House members, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filing.

Locally, Bucks County Congressman Patrick Murphy has received $15,000 from Rangel’s National Leadership PAC, according to Opensecrets.org Center for Responsible Politics.

Murphy’s communications director, Adam Abrams, is “glad that the ethics committee is looking into this and hopes they get to the bottom of this situation soon.”

Though Rangel’s ethical problems primarily illustrate an apparent gross sense of entitlement, the misuse of power for financial gain is what Republicans pounced on.

“Pennsylvania voters now know the price Patrick Murphy charges to stand with corruption,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman with the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Tom Manion, challenging Murphy for the 8th District congressional seat, said Murphy “should give the cash back.”

Two years ago, Manion noted, Murphy went after then-Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, who was linked to donations from congressmen who dealt with Jack Abramoff, the now-imprisoned lobbyist. At the time, Murphy called for Fitzpatrick to return the donations.

Although Rangel has not been found guilty of wrongdoing, Manion said Murphy finds himself in the same position as Fitzpatrick and called for him to “take the ethical high road and give the cash back.”

“Character is priceless,” Manion said. “More and more Patrick just appears to be yet another part of what’s wrong with Washington.”

Abrams said comparing Rangel and Abramoff is a stretch. Murphy, he said, takes a backseat to no one when it comes to ethics and recalled how last year the congressman called on fellow Democrat Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana to resign after he had been indicted on racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering. Investigators raided Jefferson’s home and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.

Should the Rangel probe lead to an indictment, he said Murphy would donate the money to charity.

Montgomery County Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz of the 13th District hasn’t received money from Rangel.

Her spokeswoman, Rachel Magnuson, said “the congresswoman urges the ethics commission … to quickly look into the issue.”

Newspapers like the New York Times have also taken Rangel to task and called for him to temporarily step down.

“When the ultra-liberal New York Times has lost all faith in the ability of a liberal to lead, you know the jig is up,” NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said in a press release.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fired back, labeling Republicans hypocrites.

“John Boehner has settled on a re-brand of House Republicans and it looks like their old brand — dishonest, partisan hypocrites,” said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell.