*What About Charlie? The School of Public Service and Son

This is our final installment on the current life and times of Charlie Rangel. One thing we have learned is that everyone considers Charlie to be powerful. Every story we read about this 19 term congressman starts with "Charlie Rangel the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee....".

Besides being powerful,we learned that Charlie does not seem to play by the same rules in regards to houses that we normal folks have to, either in New York, his villa in the Dominican Republic or his former DC home.

Remarkably this entire ethics investigation got under way at the request of Charlie himself, to clear his name. Even more remarkably it had nothing to do with Charlie's housing misdeeds but rather our Congressman's simple desire to have something named after him.

Back in 2007 some people began to ask questions about The City College of New York and the building of what amounts to a monument to Charlie Rangel. Not a statue mind you but as CBS so aptly put it Is Rangel's 'Monument to Me' Worth It? N.Y. City College Building Presidential-Like Library For Congressman Paid For By Taxpayers

According to promotional brochures, the soon-to-be refurbished building will house the new "Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service," the "Rangel Conference Center," "a well-furnished office for Charles Rangel" and the "Charles Rangel Library" for his papers and memorabilia. It's kind of like a presidential library, but without a president. In fact, the brochure says Rangel's library will be as important as the Clinton and Carter libraries....

But the inspiration for Rangel's library and the idea to give it federal funding came from Rangel, not the college, according to Edmondson.

Well this bit of self aggrandizement piqued peoples attention and it was learned that perhaps a little arm twisting was done to fund this "Monument to Me" with a few tax breaks thrown in for good measure.

Representative Charles B. Rangel has helped raise $11 million for a City College of New York school of public service to be named in his honor. In recent months, as questions have emerged about his fund-raising, he has insisted that he has kept his efforts to attract donors scrupulously separate from his official duties in Congress.

But Congressional records and interviews show that Mr. Rangel was instrumental in preserving a lucrative tax loophole that benefited an oil-drilling company last year, while at the same time its chief executive was pledging $1 million to the project, the Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service at C.C.N.Y.

What makes this worse was that apparently until Charlie saw a way to raise money for his tribute to himself, he was opposed to the very shenanigans he turned around and supported.

The company, Nabors Industries, was one of four corporations based in the United States that were widely criticized in 2002 and 2003 for opening offices in the Caribbean to reduce their federal tax payments. Mr. Rangel was among dozens of representatives from both parties who bitterly opposed those offshore moves and, in 2004, pushed unsuccessfully for legislation to make the companies pay more tax.

But in 2007, when the United States Senate tried to crack down on the companies, Mr. Rangel, who had recently been sworn in as House Ways and Means chairman, fought to protect them. The tax shelter for the four companies was preserved, saving Nabors an estimated tens of millions of dollars annually and depriving the federal treasury of $1.1 billion in revenues over a decade, according to a Congressional analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

The tale of how Charlie got the money from the company to help build his monument to self is about as obvious a pay to play story as their is, the only difference is that Charlie did not personally, as far as we know, benefit from the deal.

As if all this was not enough to drive our "powerful" chairman from at least his chair, it seems that there is nearly weekly revelation of Charlie's little power plays.

Between 2004 and 2007, Rep. Charles Rangel steered nearly $80,000 in campaign cash to an Internet company run by his son — paying lavishly for a pair of political websites so poorly designed an expert estimated one should have cost no more than $100 to create.

Of course there is nothing illegal about abusing the trust of your supporters and contributors to enrich relatives, powerful politicians do it all the time. But as the Politico pointed out, was this expenditure for services or a simple payoff

Still, the sum paid to Rangel’s son was the most paid for websites by any House member during the 2004-2006 election period, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings provided to Politico by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) and since-ousted Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) were distant runners-up, shelling out $44,000 and $30,000 for their websites, respectively, during the 2006 cycle.

Both Regula and Shays may have needed the exposure to fend off serious challengers. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat and dean of his state’s House delegation, hasn’t faced serious competition in years and retained his seat with 94 percent of the vote in 2006.

Obviously when you are that well entrenched and reach a certain point in the political system in Washington you become or seem to become, beyond accountable.So it seems is the attitude that Charlie developed.

Charles Rangel has been using a House of Representatives parking garage for years as free storage space for his old Mercedes-Benz - a violation of congressional rules and a potential new tax woe for the embattled lawmaker, The Post has learned.

The 1972 silver sedan is registered to Rangel, who is already under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, and is parked in a coveted section of an indoor lot, near elevators that lead to his office.

The car is covered with a protective tarp and has no license plates. Rangel's registration on the vehicle expired in 2004, state records show.

House rules forbid use of the garage for long-term storage more than 45 days - and congressional aides told The Post that Rangel's car has been sitting there for years.

A rather small little transgression really, however all things considered it seems that Charlie, in his long illustrious and powerful career has reached the point where he simply believes or at least acts as if the rules do not apply to him. He is definitely a member of the ever growing number of politicians we like to call "The Ruling Class".

So with all these indiscretions hanging over Charlie, why is he still not only a congressman but a powerful chairman of a vital committee? Why has he not been hounded from his chairmanship by his peers and asked to step aside by House Speaker Pelosi and even Mr. Change himself President-elect Obama?

Perhaps it is as simple as this. When you have an agenda of your own, you need powerful allies and if there is one thing we know, Charlie our public servant is powerful.




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