U.S. House of Representatives
Districts, terms, and committees Initially the strongest electoral challenge to Rangel came during his first re-election bid, in 1972, when he faced a Democratic primary challenge from
HARYOU-ACT director Livingston Wingate, who had the backing of the old Powell organization and the
Congress of Racial Equality, a Black nationalist group that Rangel publicly denounced. In a number of elections Rangel received the backing of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the
Liberal Party of New York. and by 1979 it was 50 percent non-Hispanic Black, 30 percent white, and 20 percent
Puerto Rican. Subsequently, numbered the Thirteenth, Rangel's area of representation showed a 2-to-1 preponderance of Hispanics over non-Hispanic African Americans. While serving as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus' predecessor organization the "Democratic Select Committee," Rangel proposed giving the committee the name "Congressional Black Caucus" during a meeting with other caucus members on February 2, 1971. In 1974, he was elected its chairman He remained a member of the caucus for the duration of his time in office. His wife Alma was a founder and a chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses, which engaged in social and fundraising activities for the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which in turn gave out college education grants. •
Congressional Arts Caucus •
House Democratic Caucus •
International Conservation Caucus 1970s: Rapid rise in 1971 As a freshman representative Rangel focused on the issue of drugs and was a member of the
House Select Committee on Crime. In February 1971, he criticized the
Nixon administration for not taking stronger action against Turkey and France, the source and manufacture points for most of the heroin coming into the U.S. Some police department officials also limited the investigation, including deputy commissioner for public affairs
Benjamin Ward, who had ordered all white officers away from the scene in acquiescing to the demands of Farrakhan and Rangel. and urging Black Americans to support the
civil rights of Soviet Jews in 1975. In other respects Rangel opposed foreign interventions and military spending, voting against bombing in
Cambodia, and against funding for the
B-1 bomber and
supercarriers. Rangel built alliances with others in Congress (collaborating for example with Michigan Republican
Guy Vander Jagt on welfare reform measures), with people in governmental agencies, and with the
Carter administration. He attempted to mediate between Mayor Koch and some minority groups who thought the Koch administration racially insensitive. As Koch related, "He has told some Blacks angry with me: 'You say Ed Koch is nasty to you? I want you to know he's nasty to everybody.' I thought that was rather nice." As
power brokers they would dominate public life in Harlem for a generation. By 1984 Rangel was the most influential Black politician in New York State. His position on Ways and Means allowed him to bring federal monies to the state and city for transit projects, industrial development,
Medicare needs,
low-income housing, and shelters for the homeless. Rangel said "We need outrage!", making reference to the slow reaction by both government and religious leaders to the epidemics of
crack cocaine, heroin,
PCP, and other drugs that hit American streets during the 1980s. The narcotics committee itself was termed possibly the most important select committee of its time.
The Washington Post said Rangel was "in a powerful position to shape policy on an issue at the top of the nation's agenda". He would remain as chair of the committee through 1993, when it was abolished along with other House select committees. Rangel authored the
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit portion of the bill, which increased affordable housing in the U.S. By late 1985 Rangel was in a six-person race to become the next
House Majority Whip, the third-highest ranked position in the House and for the first time up for election by the members rather than appointment by the Speaker. In October 1986 the race was heating up, with Rangel as the underdog coming close to Representative
Tony Coelho from California through use of his personal skills and Rangel arguing that the Democratic leadership needed better regional balance. However, in December 1986, Coelho defeated Rangel in the vote for whip, 167–78. Rangel attributed his loss to Coelho having funded the campaigns of many House members via his role as chairman of the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, later saying, "I had never been so goddamn naive. I came to Washington as an experienced politician. How did I miss Coelho's contribution to members?" Rangel successfully pushed to have
foreign tax credits removed for corporations doing business in that country, a 1987 act that became known as the "Rangel Amendment". The bill won praise from
Nelson Mandela and Rangel later said was one of his actions that he was most proud of. Rangel also strongly opposed the
Welfare Reform Act of 1996, accusing Clinton of supporting it for political reasons and predicting its consequences would cast a million children into poverty. Opening up economic opportunities for minorities and the poor was a focus of Rangel's during the 1990s. The project may have helped gain or keep several seats during the
1998 mid-term House elections. She did so successfully. On March 15, 1999, the congressman was arrested along with two other prominent African American leaders (civil rights activist
Al Sharpton and former
Mayor David Dinkins) for protesting the fatal shooting of
Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant to the United States from
Guinea, by four
white and Hispanic New York City police officers. The officers involved were later acquitted by a mixed-race jury. In October 1998,
New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco filed a lawsuit charging the directors of the foundation behind New York's
Apollo Theater, including foundation chair Rangel, with failing to collect more than $4 million owed it by a company controlled by Percy Sutton that produced the television program ''
It's Showtime at the Apollo''. In October 1999, new Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer dismissed the lawsuit and cleared Rangel and Sutton of any wrongdoing, saying that all monies properly owed had changed hands. In July 2004, Rangel was the first of three sitting U.S. House members to be arrested on
trespassing charges, for protesting
human rights abuses in Sudan in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington (
Bobby Rush and
Joe Hoeffel would follow). Rangel said, "When human lives are in jeopardy, there should be outrage."
Conyers v. Bush was dismissed later that year for
lack of standing. Rangel was long opposed to the all-volunteer army and repeatedly called for the government to bring back
the draft (military conscription). In 2003, Rangel said that "A disproportionate number of the poor and members of minority groups make up the enlisted ranks of the military, while the most privileged Americans are underrepresented or absent", and that a draft would make the military more representative of the American public at large. While some observers saw the logic in what Rangel was saying, his proposals attracted little organized support from either party or from antiwar organizations. During 2006 Rangel said that no soldier would be fighting in Iraq if they had decent career possibilities and stating: Rangel introduced versions of his
Universal National Service Act in the House in 2003,
2006, 2007, and 2010. Polls showed 70 percent of Americans opposed a reinstatement of the draft. The one time the act came up for a vote in the full House, in 2004, it was defeated 2–402, with Rangel voting against his own bill in protest at the procedural handling of it. In June 2006, the
House Appropriations Committee passed a $3 million
earmark to establish the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at
City College of New York. By 2007 the amount had been reduced to $2 million, but the funding for the center, whose purpose was to bring more poor and minority students into politics, was the target of criticism from Representative
John B. T. Campbell III of California and other Republicans as an abuse of the earmark process and as Rangel's "Monument to Me". and Rangel said "I cannot think of anything I am more proud of." Rangel was able to establish an effective working relationship with ranking member
Jim McCrery. In April 2007, Rangel published his autobiography, ''... And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress
, whose title reflected his experience in Korea. The New York Times'' gave it a favorable reviewing, saying it was "mercifully short on laundry lists [that some other political memoirs have], but long on sass and spirit". Rangel was an early and strong supporter of
Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign for the Democratic nomination. His actions during 2007 included taking a shot at the marital histories of former Mayor of New York
Rudy Giuliani, then the Republican front-runner, and his wife
Judith Giuliani, resulted in Rangel issuing a no-excuses apology. As events in 2008 unwound, the Democratic primaries and caucuses turned into a historic battle between Clinton and Senator
Barack Obama. Although Obama had a real chance of becoming the first African American president, a development that Rangel viewed with pride, and although some racially tinged comments entered the contest and Clinton's support among African Americans plunged, Rangel stayed loyal to her, saying "There's just no question in my mind that Hillary would be in a better position than a freshman senator. This ain't no time for a beginner." (Rangel's wife Alma, on the other hand, publicly supported Obama.) Rangel did endorse Obama once he finally clinched the nomination in early June 2008.
2008–2010: Ethics issues and censure Letterhead use and Rangel Center fundraising In July 2008,
The Washington Post reported that Rangel was soliciting donations to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York from corporations with business interests before his Ways and Means Committee, and was doing so using Congressional
letterhead. The companies and individuals included
AIG,
Donald Trump, and
Nabors Industries, and by this time Rangel's efforts had helped raise $12 million of the $30 million goal for the center. House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi agreed to Rangel's request. In late July, the House voted 254–138 to
table a resolution by Republican Minority Leader
John Boehner that would have censured Rangel for having "dishonored himself and brought discredit to the House", by occupying the four apartments.
House parking garage A September 2008
New York Post article reported that Rangel had been using a House parking garage as free storage space for his
Mercedes-Benz for years, in apparent violation of Congressional rules. Under
Internal Revenue Service regulations, free parking (here, worth $290 a month) is considered
imputed income, and must be declared on
tax returns. In July 2010 the House Ethics Committee ruled that Rangel had committed no violation, since in practice the parking policy was only applied to Congressional staff and not to members themselves.
Taxes on Dominican villa rental income Rangel was accused of failing to report income from his rental of a beachside villa he owned in
Punta Cana in the
Dominican Republic. A three-bedroom, three-bath unit, it rented out for as much as $1,100 per night in the busiest tourist season. Labor lawyer
Theodore Kheel, a principal investor in the resort development company and frequent campaign contributor to Rangel, had encouraged him to purchase the villa. Rangel purchased it in 1988 for $82,750. He financed $53,737.50 of the purchase price for seven years at an interest rate of 10.5%, but was one of several early investors whose interest payments were waived in 1990. In September 2008, Rangel's attorney,
Lanny Davis, disclosed that Rangel had failed to report on his tax returns or in congressional disclosure forms $75,000 in income he had received for renting his Dominican villa. That month, Rangel paid $10,800 to cover his liability for the related
back taxes. He had owed back taxes for at least three years. The Ways and Means Committee writes the
U.S. tax code, and as such his failure to pay taxes himself led to heavy criticism. On September 24, 2008, the House Ethics Committee announced that it would investigate whether Rangel had violated its
code of conduct or any law or other regulation related to his performance of his duties. On November 23, 2008, the
New York Post reported that Rangel took a "
homestead" tax break on his Washington D.C., house for years, while simultaneously occupying multiple New York City rent-stabilized apartments, "possibly violating laws and regulations in both cases". In January 2009, Republican Representative
John R. Carter introduced the Rangel Rule Act of 2009 (H.R. 735), a
tongue-in-cheek proposal that would have allowed all taxpayers to not pay penalties and interest on back taxes, in reference to Rangel not yet having paid his.
Defense of tax shelter , in Bermuda in 2009 In November 2008, following reports by
The New York Times, Republican Congressmen asked the House Ethics Committee to look into Rangel's defense of a
tax shelter approved by his Ways and Means Committee. One of the four companies that benefited from the loophole was
Nabors Industries, which opened headquarters in
Bermuda as a foreign corporation. Under the loophole Nabors received tens of millions of dollars in
tax breaks. In 2004, Rangel had led opposition to the tax breaks. Rangel said
The New York Times had ignored facts and explanations, and denied the charges. The House Ethics Committee voted in December 2008, to expand its investigation of Rangel to the matter. Eventually the Ethics Committee would not make a specific charge over this matter but did include it in the supporting documentation for the overall charge that Rangel had solicited Rangel Center donations from those with business before his committee.
Unreported assets and income On September 15, 2008, it was disclosed that: (a) Rangel had omitted from his financial reports details regarding his sale of a Washington D.C. home; (b) discrepancies existed in the values he listed for a property he owns in
Sunny Isles, Florida (varying from $50,000 to $500,000); and (c) inconsistencies appeared in his
investment fund reporting. He apologized, saying "I owed my colleagues and the public adherence to a higher
standard of care, not only as a member of Congress, but even more as the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee." Republicans called for his removal as chair. Rangel said there was no justification for that, as the mistakes were errors of omission, that would not justify loss of his position. In August 2009, Rangel amended his 2007 financial disclosure form to report more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets and income. That doubled his reported
net worth. Unreported assets included a
federal credit union checking account of between $250,000 and $500,000, several investment accounts, stock in
Yum! Brands and
PepsiCo, and property in
Glassboro, New Jersey. Rangel also had not paid
property taxes on two of his New Jersey properties which he was required by law to do. The ethics issues led by December 2008 to some loss of standing for Rangel, to Republicans trying to tie him to all Democrats, and to some Democrats privately saying it would be best if Rangel stepped down from his Ways and Means post. In late 2008 and again in September 2009, the government
watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Rangel one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress. Media pieces compared Rangel's woes with those of the unethical former Ways and Means chairs
Wilbur Mills and
Dan Rostenkowski. (opposition to which, he suggested, was partly due to racial prejudice against President Obama). Nevertheless, his influence was diminished by the questions surrounding him. On February 26, 2010, the Ethics Committee issued its report. It determined that Rangel had violated House gift rules, by accepting reimbursement for his travel to the conferences. The committee found that he had not known of the contributions, but concluded that he was still responsible for them and was required to repay their cost. The Ethics Committee continued to investigate the charges against Rangel relating to obtaining rent-stabilized apartments, fundraising, and failure to disclose rental income from his Dominican villa. Other Democrats were concerned that Rangel would impede Democrats' efforts to maintain their majority in the
2010 House elections, but did not say anything publicly out of respect and personal affection for Rangel. Pelosi granted his request, but whether such a leave was possible was unclear and the House
Speaker pro Tempore said that a resignation had taken place and that Rangel was no longer chair.
House ethics committee charges On July 22, 2010, a bipartisan, four-member investigative subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee indicated it had "substantial reason to believe" that Rangel had violated a range of ethics rules relating to the other charges. The matter was referred to another, newly created, special subcommittee to rule on the findings. Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer said the action indicated the "process is working as it should, while Minority Leader
John Boehner called the announcement "a sad reminder" of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "most glaring broken promise: to 'drain the swamp' in Washington". Rangel negotiated with the Ethics Committee. But participants in the talks characterized him as unwilling to admit wrongdoing in connection with several of the charges, and anxious about preserving his legacy. No settlement was reached. On July 29, 2010, Rangel was charged by the committee with 13 counts of violating House rules and federal laws. Rangel's lawyers continued to insist that he had not intentionally violated any law or regulation, had not handed out political favors, and had not misused his office for personal financial gain.
Re-election campaign of 2010 Rangel suggested that
Andrew Cuomo's primary run in the
2010 gubernatorial election against incumbent
David Paterson, who was the first African American governor of New York, would undo years of work that Cuomo spent rebuilding his standing in the state Democratic Party after his bruising
2002 gubernatorial primary contest against
Carl McCall. At the time McCall was the highest-ranking African American and first major party candidate for governor in the state. Rangel had been a staunch supporter of McCall against Cuomo in 2002. For the upcoming 2010 gubernatorial race, Rangel suggested that for the white Cuomo to challenge the African American incumbent would not be "the moral decision". Rangel said, "There might be an inclination for racial polarization in a primary in the state of New York. Since we have most African Americans registered as Democrats, and since you would be making an appeal for Democrats, it would be devastating in my opinion." Rangel faced several Democratic primary challengers for his seat in 2010:
Vincent Morgan, whose
grassroots campaign bore many resemblances to Rangel's own against the scandal-plagued
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., in 1970;
Adam Clayton Powell IV, who had previously challenged Rangel in 1994; labor activist and past primary candidate for statewide office
Jonathan Tasini; and former Obama campaign official Joyce Johnson. He then won the November 2, 2010, general election easily, garnering 80 percent of the vote against Republican
Michel Faulkner's 10 percent and smaller amounts for third-party candidates.
House ethics trial and censure On November 15, 2010, Rangel's formal ethics trial began. He walked out of the hearing at the start, saying that he was unable to afford representation after having paid his previous lawyers over $2 million, and arguing unsuccessfully that the proceeding should be delayed until he could arrange for a legal defense fund. Two of the charges were focused on his actions with regards to soliciting funds and donations for the Rangel Center from those with business before the Ways and Means Committee; four were for improper use of Congressional letterhead and other House resources in those solicitations; one was for submitting incomplete and inaccurate financial disclosure statements; one was for using one of his Harlem apartments as an office when he had Congressional dealings with the landlord; one was for failing to pay taxes on his Dominican villa; and two reiterated these charges in describing general violations of House rules. Two days later, a near-tears Rangel pleaded for "fairness and mercy" the full Committee voted 9–1 to recommend that the full House approve
a sanction of censure upon Rangel. The committee stated: "Public office is a public trust [and Rangel] violated that trust." Rangel repeatedly insisted, as he had all along, that nothing he had done was with the aim of enriching himself. The House of Representatives then voted 333–79 to censure Rangel. Only two Republicans voted against censure,
Peter T. King of Long Island and
Don Young of Alaska. It had been 27 years since the last such measure and Rangel was only the
23rd House member to be censured.
2011–2017: Final years in Congress in 2011 Republicans took over control of the House as the
112th Congress began in January 2011, meaning Rangel would have lost his Ways and Means chair even without his ethics issues. He was not considered for the ranking member slot either, which after a contested election among the Democratic caucus had gone to former acting chair Sander Levin. His difficulties were not completely over; the
National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the
Federal Election Commission alleging that he had improperly paid legal bills from a
political action committee. To cover both ongoing and past legal expenses he established a legal defense fund (whose creation was approved by the House Ethics Committee). During 2011 Rangel became the first member of Congress to declare support for the
Occupy Wall Street movement and made several visits to their nearby demonstration site in
Zuccotti Park. However, the protesters themselves picketed Rangel's office, objecting to his free trade stance (in particular to agreements he supported
with Panama and
with South Korea that they said resulted in jobs being exported). Moreover, his district had been renumbered as the
13th District following the 2010 census, and its demographics had been changed significantly. He found himself in a district that stretched from Harlem to the Bronx and was now majority-Hispanic; it was 55 percent Hispanic and 27 percent African American. As a result, Rangel faced a serious primary challenge from State Senator
Adriano Espaillat.
In the June 26 primary – the real contest in what was still an overwhelmingly Democratic district – Rangel defeated Espaillat by less than a thousand votes,
with a result that took two weeks to fully resolve. He won the subsequent November general election easily. In April 2013, Rangel filed a lawsuit in the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia against several members and staff of the House Ethics Committee, saying that they had engaged in "numerous, flagrant, knowing and intentional violations" in their investigation against him. The suit sought to overturn the measure of censure that had been taken against him. In December 2013, Judge
John D. Bates dismissed the suit, saying that there were "insurmountable separation-of-powers barriers" against the courts becoming involved in House of Representatives internal actions. Rangel appealed the dismissal, but the judge's action was upheld by the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in May 2015, saying the matter fell outside the jurisdiction of the courts. In October 2015, the
United States Supreme Court declined to consider the case, ending Rangel's legal bid. Rangel ran again in 2014, facing Espaillat once more in the Democratic primary as well as Michael Walrond, minister of the
First Corinthian Baptist Church. Rangel said that if he was re-elected, it would be his final term in the House. In the
June 24 primary the voting was again close but Rangel prevailed over Espaillat. Rangel faced no Republican opposition in the November general election After being strongly opposed to
Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3, 2015, speech to Congress (in which, at the invitation of House Republicans, the Israeli Prime Minister spoke in opposition to the Obama administration's efforts to secure a
comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program) and saying he would be one of those Democrats not attending, Rangel changed his mind and did attend, attributing his reversal to the advice of friends and constituents and saying, "Enough damage has already been done... I don't want my absence to add to what is already a shattered type of relationship." Due to a large personal loan he made to his campaign committee and his continuing struggles with fundraising, He had planned to raise money towards paying off that debt at his 85th birthday celebration to be held at the
Plaza Hotel that month. Guests included
Lady Gaga,
Tony Bennett, and Hillary Clinton, however Clinton took over Rangel's party as a "Hillary for America" event to raise money for
her 2016 presidential campaign. in December 2016 As he had vowed two years earlier, However Espaillat won a close victory over Wright in a large field of candidates. ==Later years==