Despite censure, Rangel not slowing down

Democratic Representative Charles Rangel definitely hasn’t given up on his political career, even after ethics inquiries plagued his last term in Congress.

In recent weeks, he has spoken on behalf of health care reform, given opening remarks to the Ways & Means Committee hearing on President Obama’s 2012 budget, and encouraged constituents to use the IRS’s free tax filing programs. And despite his House censure last December, the 80-year-old Congressman, who represents northern Manhattan, filed a statement of candidacy for 2012 with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 14.

This has come as a surprise to many who took Rangel’s recent remarks to media about his age and potential successors as hints of impending retirement.

“He’s never insinuated that he’s retiring anytime soon,” spokesperson Elbert Garcia said. “I think it’s more that some people just naturally figure he should be retiring.”

Rangel was found guilty of 11 ethics violations last year, including failure to report income from his Dominican villa and improper use of several Harlem apartments he was renting at below-market rates. The censure resulted in his resignation as the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

In an effort to raise money for his legal fees, Rangel also announced the creation of the Charles B. Rangel Legal Expense Trust, which was approved by the House Ethics Committee in December.

“This is all going to be properly reported and properly recorded,” said Bob Liff, a spokesperson for Rangel’s campaign. “It’s as transparent as you can be in this business. There are outstanding issues that require him to be prepared to respond to, and that is precisely what this is set up to do.”

Liff may be referring to the conservative watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center, which has filed many complaints against Rangel with the FEC, IRS, and House Ethics Committee.

NLPC President Peter Flaherty called Rangel “a shadow of his former self.”

“We will continue to monitor and research his corrupt finances and relationships and we do expect to have more on him, which we’ll make public at the appropriate time,” Flaherty said. “We believe there’s corruption that’s not been exposed, and we intend to expose it.”

Rangel’s filing comes a year ahead of the deadline, which has prompted speculation about his intentions.

“People might think that he’ll have serious rivals this time, but I suspect that the early filing is a way to preempt them and say, ‘I’m running again,’” political science professor Robert Erickson said.

However, others say that this is nothing new.

“He’s always filed as early as he did,” Garcia said. “That’s par for the course.”

So far, Rangel has not publicly announced his intent to run for his twenty-second term, but has all but confirmed it to several media outlets.

On Feb. 23, the Congressman gave an interview to Inside City Hall in which he said, “When it’s time to file, they say, ‘Are you in or out?’ I am in.”

daphne.chen@columbiaspectator.com