Rangel Will Face Primary Challenge
5330349Powerful but embattled longtime Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York will face his first primary challenge in years.
Vincent Morgan, a community banker, announced yesterday on his campaign Web site that he is running in 2010 for the seat long held by Rangel. The two men have a history: Morgan notes that he was on Rangel's staff and in 2002 "was appointed campaign director for the Congressman's successful re-election."
"After 40 years, we are ready for new leadership and a new direction," Morgan says on his site.
Rangel has come under fire in recent months for a number of alleged ethical lapses and is currently the subject of an ethics committee investigation. He survived a vote last week to force him from his position as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee but appears to be losing the support of some rank-and-file House Democrats even as House leaders vow to support him pending the outcome of the ethics investigation.
Among the allegations against Rangel are that he has failed to pay taxes and disclose assets – a somewhat ironic charge in light of his Ways and Means chairmanship.
"It is past time for [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to insist that Chairman Rangel step aside until the Ethics Committee completes its work," said House Republican Leader John Boehner in a statement last week. "The American people won't stand for having a chairman of the House's tax-writing committee who is under investigation for not paying his taxes. What more has to happen before Speaker Pelosi does the right thing?"
The Washington Post called for Rangel to give up his chairmanship in September, charging that he "has violated [the nation's] trust continually and seemingly without care." The New York Times wrote that Pelosi's protection of Rangel "is a grave misstep that can only hand the ethics issue back to her opponents." On Sunday, liberal pundit Arianna Huffington called on Pelosi to force Rangel out of the job.
In addition to allegedly not reporting at least $500,000 in assets in 2007 and not paying taxes on income from the Dominican beach house, Rangel is also accused of improperly accepting gifts in the form of four Manhattan apartments for which he paid below-market rent and improperly using his Congressional office to raise money from donors who could be impacted by the decisions of his committee.
As the Hill notes, Rangel "maintains strong backing from the Congressional Black Caucus," which last week sent Pelosi a letter calling on her to support Rangel for the duration of the ethics investigation.
Rangel has represented Harlem in Congress since 1971.