Charlie Rangel Owes a $23,000 Civil Fine
Harlem Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel, who just announced a run for his 22nd term, now finally knows the exact dollar punishment he's stuck with from his long-simmering ethics scandal. The 81-year-old Rangel's been charged a civil fine of $23,000 for accepting a rent-stabilized apartment and then using it to run his campaign, a maneuver that (when adjusted to market rate) put his campaign contributions over the legal limit. (Actually, he had four apartments in the same building, which was in part the tip-off to the impropriety.)
It's a far less damaging punishment than the censure Rangel received from the House Ethics Committee, not just for his N.Y. apartment, but for income-tax and fundraising slipperiness as well. The settlement isn't a terribly large one, especially when you consider that Rangel probably has some cash on hand — he was paying just $630 for an apartment that probably should have commanded $1,700. Jealousy from rent-gouged New Yorkers over that crazy deal might just be more likely than all the ethics violations to hurt his re-election campaign.
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Filed Under: politics ,charlie rangel ,paying the piper ,crimes and misdemeanors ,real estate
Charlie Rangel Owes a $23,000 Civil Fine
Noreen Malone
Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:11:51 GMT
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