NY's only statewide political program
Charlie Rangel
Linares Going ‘All The Way’ In Senate Run
May 7th - 7:46 am
I spoke briefly last night to Assemblyman Guillermo Linares after he sent out a statement formally announcing his long-speculated run for Sen. Adriano Espaillat’s upper Manhattan seat.
When I asked if he planned to stay in the race regardless of the outcome of Espaillat’s primary challenge to Rep. Charlie Rangel, Linares assured me – twice – that he’s in “all the way” to the end of the campaign.
In other words, even if Espaillat fails to oust Rangel and takes advantage of the fact that the Legislature hasn’t changed the state primary date (Sept. 11) to coincide with the federal primary date (Jun 26) to seek re-election to his current seat, Linares plans to run.
That’s a gamble for Linares, because he could find himself out of a job come September if he fails to win the Senate primary.
Again, thanks to the Senate GOP’s unwillingness to go along with the Assembly Democrats’ desire to change the state primary date, Linares has no fallback and must give up his current seat to run for higher office.
Espaillat vs. Linares would surely be a grudge match between two longtime frenemies. (I believe they’re currently in an off cycle in their on-again/off-again relationship).
Espaillat hasn’t yet pledged not to exploit that primary loophole if he loses his bid against Rangel.
His 2010 rival, District Leader and Barack Obama Democratic Club founder Mark Levine, appears to be the senator’s pick to succeed him in the Senate should he move on to the House.
There is widespread speculation that Levine would step aside is Espaillat wants to run for his old seat. But if he didn’t, there would be a three-way battle for it between Levine, Espaillat and Linares – a potentially ugly situation that would likely benefit the incumbent.
Levine has a back-up plan. In February, he created a campaign committee to raise money for a 2013 potential bid for term-limited NYC Councilman Robert Jackson’s seat. (A number of people are apparently eyeing that seat, and Jackson is preparing for a Manhattan BP run that year).
I asked Linares if he plans to endorse Rangel. He side-stepped that question, saying he’s currently focused on his own race.
Brief history:
Linares, a former Bloomberg administration official, is currently holding Espaillat’s old Assembly seat. Espaillat is currently holding AG Eric Schneiderman’s old Senate seat. Linares challenged Schneiderman in 2002 when the district was redrawn to be more Latino, and lost.
Rangel: Conspiracy Theory On Early Retirement Is ‘Flattering’
Apr 30th - 4:25 pm
During an extended sit-down interview with Diana Williams that aired yesterday, Rep. Charlie Rangel said speculation that he’s running for another term with an eye toward retirement halfway through and hand-picking his successor is “flattering.”
The veteran Harlem pol insisted “anyone that knows me – which includes reporters – would know that I would not know how to do something immoral,” adding (at about the eight-minute mark):
“People who say this, in a sense it’s flattering, because there’s nothing else that they can create as to why I shouldn’t be running and winning except: I don’t think that as good as he is that he’s going to really share that time with us for two years.”
“And the truth of the matter is that if I have integrity, and that hasn’t been challenged, if I was to do something that immoral, where would I go? Nicaragua? Would I go to Europe? I mean, this is integrity that’s on the line. So, when they challenge it with no reason to do it, it’s so you would raise the question.”
“And I guess, in a sense, I’m glad you raised it…It would be in shame and disgrace that I would do that to people. And I wouldn’t do it. So, how many different ways do you say that’s not so? And there’s absoltuely no evidence from anybody.”
When Williams pressed Rangel, asking if he’s promising and guaranteeing to serve out the full term if he’s re-elected, Rangel replied:
“There is no question. If there’s anything within my power physically, and I have no reason to believe that there’s anything that would deter that, I am anxious to complete the work that I think the Obama administration has to do. And the opportunity to just let this go by, I think, would be unfair to my constituents.”
Rivera For Espaillat
Apr 19th - 12:44 pm
Sen. Gustavo Rivera has thrown his support to fellow Senate Democrat, Adriano Espaillat, as he seeks to oust Rep. Charlie Rangel in the June 26 primary.
“As a fellow senator, I have watched Adriano successfully fight for working families and immigrants,” Rivera said in a statement released by Espaillat’s campaign.
“Senator Espaillat’s leadership helped extend and strengthen crucial tenant protections, which kept millions of New Yorkers in their homes. Together, we have successfully advocated for education funding for our schools, affordable housing for our residents and more opportunities for immigrants who call New York home.”
“I am proud to endorse Adriano for Congress because he will bring the same passion and energy to Congress and deliver the change we need in Washington D.C. I look forward to campaigning for Adriano, particularly in the Bronx, to get him elected as our next Congressman.”
The newly-drawn NY-13 encompasses Rivera’s district, which he won by ousting former Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. in the 2010 primary. (Espaillat, who was an assemblyman running for former Sen. Eric Scheniderman’s seat at the time, endorsed Rivera in that race).
A Rivera aide noted that the senator has several years of experience working in East Harlem on various races prior to his own political career.
Espaillat’s campaign called Rivera’s nod an “important milestone” because he represents a portion of the district that could “prove decisive” in the election.
Rivera’s entire district (in its pre-redistricting state) is located in the new NY-13. The area was not previously located in the congressional district, and so is new – arguably up-for-grabs – territory, although there has been an influx of people to the Northwest Bronx from Washington Heights, where Espaillat is well known.
Rivera is Puerto Rican, and I believe he is the first Puerto Rican elected official to endorse Espaillat, who would be the first Dominican-American elected to the House. Since the black vote is going to be split in the primary, thanks to the presence of Clyde Williams, Joyce Johnson and Craig Schley in the race, the Rangel camp is counting on the support of Puerto Rican voters as a sort of “firewall” to help him stave off Espaillat, according to a Democratic operative familiar with the race.
Rangel’s Return
Apr 10th - 4:49 pm
After spending close to two months out of the public eye – and in and out of the hospital – to receive treatment for a back injury he reportedly sustained while moving furniture for his wife, Rep. Charlie Rangel appeared at a small business/entrepreneurs event earlier today.
Rangel, who is on the cusp of 82, sat throughout the event. His aides shooed reporters from the room in an attempt to avoid having video/still photos shot of the veteran Harlem lawmaker using a walker to exit the room.
However, our sister station, NY1, got some footage of the congressman on his way in. He’s looking quite chipper, as you can see, but leaning heavily on the device.
Early this morning, one of Rangel’s primary challengers, Vince Morgan, who also ran against the congressman in 2010, announced he was ending his campaign and throwing his weight behind Sen. Adriano Espaillat. Rangel called Espaillat a “pretty strong” opponent who has “done a lot of good work for the community,” but he seemed unconcerned- and even energized by – the prospect of a hard-fought primary.
Rangel Campaign Slams Media And Ethics Committee, Corrects ‘Historical Record’ On FEC Fine (Updated)
Mar 30th - 1:32 pm
Rep. Charlie Rangel’s re-election campaign released a lengthy and unusual statement today from spokesman Bob Liff that took both the media and the House Ethics Committee in connection with the veteran Harlem congressman’s own ethics woes.
Liff addressed the reports earlier this week on new FEC documents that showed Rangel agreed to pay a $23,000 civil fine stemming from a rent-stablized Harlem apartment that he illegally used as a campaign office and did not report on financial filings – a perk equated to receiving “excessive in-kind contributions.”
But Liff did not step there, revisiting the long and tangled history of Rangel’s ethics problems, which resulted in his censure on the House floor in late 2010 – about a month after he easily won re-election in the November general following his success in fending off five Democratic primary challengers that September.
“Fighting conventional wisdom is always hard, but it is important for the historical record and for Congressman Charles B. Rangel’s constituents to learn the truth, when it comes to inaccuracies in reporting on the background of Congressman Rangel agreeing to pay an FEC penalty concerning an apartment in the Harlem building where he lives,” Liff wrote.
“Use of language that he ‘dodged’ or ‘evaded’ taxes are untrue; neither did he ‘hide’ or ‘conceal’ his assets as mischaracterized in many of the articles.”
“…It is a fact that Congressman Rangel signed a settlement agreement with the Ethics Committee staff accepting responsibility for some of the allegations, mainly involving the way in which he supported a public policy center at the City College of New York, but the allegations surrounding the apartments were completely dropped by the Committee. The FEC for its own reasons made its own judgments, which the Congressman has responded to in settling the matter.”
Liff noted that the Ethics Committee itself has come under investigation due to allegations that Republican House members and committee staffers were engaged in misconduct.
“We anxiously await the findings of that investigation, as we believe it will lay bare the manner in which Congressman Rangel was unfairly treated, as well as Congresswoman Maxine Waters,” Liff said.
“It is such exploitation, as well as an example of how such conduct relates to the likelihood that Congressman Rangel and Congresswoman Waters were unfairly treated for inappropriate partisan reasons. The result was an unprecedented censure of Congressman Rangel for allegations that involved no corruption or personal gain.”
Liff again reiterated that the 82-year-old congressman, who has been laid up by a back injury that kept him away from work and out of the public eye, is indeed seeking re-election this fall.
UPDATE: A second statement from Rangel himself indicates he will serve out the entire two-year term if he makes it back to D.C. (Conventiontional wisdom for some time now has been that Rangel will retire mid-term so he can hand-pick his successor; Assemblyman Keith Wright is seen at the moment to have the inside track on that).
“I am not in this race so I could politically manipulate the system,” the congressman said.
“The constituents I have long served know, and those who I now seek to represent will learn, that I am a straight-talker. Any rumors that say I’m not going to serve out a full term are false. Again, I am absolutely running for re-election. I intend to serve my entire term. There is no wiggle room.”
He’s already facing a number of primary opponents, including Joyce Johnson, who was among Rangel’s unsuccessful 2010 challengers; former Bill Clinton aide Clyde Williams and Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who has not yet formally delcared his candidacy, but is reportedly expected to do so next week.
Joyce Johnson Makes 2nd Attempt Against Rangel
Mar 28th - 2:20 pm
Joyce Johnson, a longtime civil rights/women’s rights advocate and former executive who was one of five Democrats to unsuccessfully challenge Rep. Charlie Rangel last year, has formally decided to make a second attempt at unseating the veteran Harlem congressman, and just announced her campaign via a statement on the Huffington Post.
“I’m running for Congress again in 2012 because I continue to believe what I did then: that a brighter future is possible for all of us when we work together and have strong, efficient leaders in place to support us,” Johnson wrote.
“We need leaders that understand the value of creating jobs that offer equal pay for equal work; of investing in our youth by building better schools, hiring quality teachers, and fostering cleaner, safer environments for them to learn and play; and of bridging the social and economic divide that continues to burden hardworking individuals and families across America, and in my own neighborhood.”
“This is a future that every American deserves. But it cannot be accomplished with legislators heavily invested in maintaining the status quo of ‘politics as usual.’ The only way forward is with pragmatic yet innovative leaders who are connected to the people they’ve been hired to serve, and who can envision our community’s future as it ought to be – full of promise and opportunity.”
“That is the future I see and will fight hard to achieve as Congresswoman of New York’s 13th District.”
Johnson did not name Rangel in her announcement, but did reference “someone who, for nearly half a century, has been buoyed by a well-funded, well-connected political machine.”
Johnson, the lone woman in the 2010 field, surprised everyone when she received the coveted NYT endorsement that year, but nevertheless failed to gain much traction in the race. As the Daily Beast reported, she had “a campaign staff of zero, a total budget of $80,000 and no office outside of her two-bedroom apartment.”
She finished with 12 percent of the vote. Then-Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, whose father Rangel ousted from office in a 1970 primary, had 24 percent, and Rangel himself received 51 percent.
This time around, it looks like Johnson will again be the only woman challenging Rangel, but she isn’t alone is seeking to take him out.
Clyde Williams, a former aide to Bill Clinton, launched his campaign via video earlier this month, making no formal mention of Rangel, either.
Sen. Adriano Espaillat has been circulating petitions to get onto the June 26 primary ballot. The senator has so far refused to formally acknowledge whether he actually plans to go through with a challenge to Rangel, but his spokesman told City&State yesterday that the senator has already collected enough signatures to secure a ballot slot, but will continue collecting names to protect against challenges.
Rangel has been sidelined by a back injury that is taking a lot longer than originally predicted by his spokeswoman to heal. But the 82-year-old insists he’s running for re-election in his newly-drawn district and has already collected his first Democratic club endorsement.
Manhattan Democratic Chairman/Assemblyman and would-be Rangel successor Keith Wright is overseeing the congressman’s petitioning, and has insisted that process is going along just swimmingly.
Rangel Still Laid Up With Back Injury (Updatedx2)
Mar 9th - 1:56 pm
As the redistricting fight has heated up over the past two weeks, much of the attention has focused on Rep. Charlie Rangel’s district.
Pretty much everyone, it seems, has weighed in on the topic – from black and Latino leaders to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. But one person has been strangely absent from the public discussion/hand-wringing: Rangel himself.
Actually, Rangel has been keeping a very low profile of late. He missed votes in the House all last week, and made no public appearances.
As it turns out, the 82-year-old veteran Harlem congressman has been laid up for at least the past two weeks due to a serious back injury. He was hospitalized at one point, according to a source familiar with the congressman’s condition, and he continues to receive treatment. But it’s unclear whether that’s occurring at home or in a rehabilitation facility.
Rangel spokeswoman Hannah Kim confirmed the congressman did indeed injury his back (she didn’t indicate how) and has been “medically advised to rest until he fully recovers.” UPDATE: He was “lifting heavy boxes,” Kim informs me. Also, Rangel was first hospitalized in mid-Feburary, according to Politico. At the time, Rangel’s office said this was “nothing serious.” But this has lasted weeks now.
“He is now doing very well and we expect him to be back the next time Congress is back in session (in two weeks),” she said.
I heard talk that Rangel was laid up around the same time that a video of him dancing appeared on his Twitter account. I was unable to confirm his status at the time, however. In fact, one individual close to Rangel flat out insisted to me that he was absolutely fine.
There has been a lot of speculation about Rangel’s political future for several years now. It intensified when he was charged with 13 ethics violations in connection with his personal finances, which led him to be censured by his House colleagues in December 2010.
One month before his censure, Rangel had cruised to victory against five Democratic primary opponents. He had ignored all the prodding from fellow Dems – including President Obama – about a retirement, and has continued to do so, insisting he will run again this fall.
It remains unclear what Rangel’s district will look like when the redistricting dust finally settles.
Assemblyman Keith Wright, the Manhattan Democratic chairman, and Assemblyman Carl Heastie, the Bronx Democratic chair, have been fighting over who will control the weighted vote in the district, which would be very important were Rangel to win re-election and then retire in the middle of his term, sparking a potential special election in which the party leaders would get to choose who runs in his place.
I reported earlier this week that the two warring chairs had reached a deal, brokered in part, according to Roberto Perez, by state Democratic Party Executive Director Charlie King and the Rev. Al Sharpton, that would give the tie-breaking power to Westchester County Democratic Chairman Reggie LaFayette, but it’s unclear how solid that agreement is, and neither Heastie nor Wright has publicly confirmed it.
The Senate and Assembly may still broker a deal to try to supercede the special master’s House maps, which many congressional delegation members – particularly black and Latino members and their allies – dislike intensely and have even suggested might be unconstitutional. But time is running out, and the sticking point is apparently the creation of a new Latino district, according to several sources.
Political Power Struggle Brews In NY-15 (Updated)
Dec 29th - 2:41 pm
Talk of stretching veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel’s historic Harlem-centric district to include parts of the Bronx and Westchester has touched off a nascent power struggle between two NYC Democratic county organizations.
A Bronx Democratic source said it’s not sitting well with his side that the lines of NY-15 might be manipulated northward to maintain Rangel’s so-called “black” district, making up for the steady increase of Hispanic voters in its current confines, while letting Manhattan retain control.
According to this source, there’s talk – and a plan floated by the NAACP – that NY-15 would be carefully redrawn to maximize black voters, but also keep the Bronx’s share less than Manhattan’s, percentage-wise.
That would enable Manhattan to determine the Democratic designee in regularly scheduled elections and select the candidate in a special election – should Rangel someday decide, as has been widely speculated for years now, to retire mid-term and try to hand-pick his successor.
This source was prompted to call by our CapTon post on Rangel’s recent Pura Politica interview with Juan Manuel Benitez, during which the congressman mentioned the proposed changes to his district and expressed frustration with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for confusing redistricting process with his consistent talk of a veto.
“There’s no guarantee he would have support in the Bronx,” my source said. “We just don’t know him. It would be new territory for him, a large amount of new territory.”
Rangel has already signaled his intention to seek yet another term next year, although he’s likely to face several primary challenges – again.
But the fight brewing here is really more about who comes after Rangel, and who would have the most control over either selecting that successor or boosting a favored candidate.
It’s no secret that Manhattan Democratic Chairman/Assemblyman Keith Wright is interesting in running for Rangel’s seat when the veteran congressman finally calls it quits. He clearly stands to gain if the committee he controls has the ability to choose a special election candidate or vote for the party’s designee in the primary.
UPDATE: Jeffrey Wice, a redistricting attorney who is working for state Senate Democrats, emailed the following:
“Voting Rights Act requirements and the need to maintain an effective minority district will determine how this district will be redrawn.”
“The district will need to be redrawn in a way so that the minority communities will be able to elect their candidate of choice. This will require weighing African-American and Latino voting histories to determine the most effective way to comply with the law.”
Rangel On 2012 Primary: ‘It’s On!’
Dec 6th - 2:17 pm
Rep. Charlie Rangel may be 81, but he apparently has no plan to retire – something that has been widely speculated, particularly after his ethics scandal and censure last year.
The veteran 20-term Harlem congressman sent supporters an email with the subject line “It’s On!” touting his fundraiser tonight in Washington, D.C. headlined by House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Reps. Donna Christensen and Donald Payne. (Rangel is billed as a member of the Ways and Means Committee. He once chaired that powerhouse committee, but was stripped of that title by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi).
Rangels email mentions “reports in the press that one of the people who is planning to challenge me for re-election has spent between ‘$25,000 and $30,000′ on a poll to access his viability.” That refers to Clyde Williams, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton with ties to President Obama, who has formed an exploratory committee and recently hired one of Mayor Bloomberg’s pollsters, Whitman Insight Strategies, to gauge his chances against the 42-year incumbent.
The poll – or at least what Williams released of it – showed only 35 percent of those questioned were prepared to return Rangel to Congress. Now Rangel is calling on Williams to comply “with the spirit of the New York State Fair Campaign Law and releases the poll in its entirety so that we can see the questions.”
“Whatever the results actually are, one thing I know for certain: I love serving the people of my Congressional district and am going to fight like hell for the privilege of serving again,” Rangel wrote. “Please join me by supporting my campaign with a contribution now. My staff sent you an invitation to a fundraiser in Washington tonight, if you’re in town I’d love to see you.”
“Since my current term began in January I have fought for my community every single day. In addition to the work to bring jobs, education and better healthcare to my district, I have reached out aggressively through new media to communicate with as many of my constituents as I can. My official website won a prestigious award, and I have communicated with more than 107,000 constituents through my Telephone Town Hall meetings. I feel more than able to continue representing my constituents and fighting for a better America, but to continue to do that I need your help.”
Williams isn’t the only Democrat eyeing a challenge to Rangel. Vincent Morgan, a former Rangel aide (who also happens to be related to former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford), has already said he plans to run next fall after finishing dead last in the 2010 primary.
Former Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, who also failed to evict Rangel from his father’s old House seat last year, is also considering another run, as is Joyce Johnson, who also ran unsuccessfully last year – even with the NYT’s seal of approval.
Also mentioned if, for some reason, Rangel isn’t on the ballot are Manhattan Democratic Chairman/Assemblyman Keith Wright, Sen. Bill Perkins, and NYC Councilwoman Inez Dickens.
Also keep in mind: It’s likely the 15th CD district lines are going to change in the next round of redistrictnig, but word is there’s a big push to keep it in African American hands and perhaps create a Dominican-dominated district in which Sen. Adriano Espaillat, another frequently-mentioned potential Rangel successor, would be a strong contender.
Rangel Scoffs At Calls For Weiner To Resign
Jun 10th - 2:14 pm
“For what? To please whom?”
That was the response from Rep. Charlie Rangel when asked by NY1′s Grace Rauh yesterday whether his NY congressional delegation colleague, Rep. Anthony Weiner, should step down in the face of a House ethics investigation following his admission that he sent explicit messages and photos to women he met on the Internet.
Rangel said his advice to Weiner is as follows: “First take care of your wife, and remember that this too shall pass.”
The veteran Harlem Democrat is perhaps the person most able to empathize with Weiner. He lived through a prolonged ethics investigation that resulted in his censure on the House floor, and nevertheless managed to win re-election in a multi-candidate primary last fall.
Rangel weathered an experience similar to the one that Weiner now faces, with fellow Democrats calling for him to resign and Republicans both making him a target and using his predicament to slam his conference colleagues. Like Weiner, he refused to leave – and he survived.
Rangel’s case had nothing to do with sexting. But it nevertheless dominated the headlines intermittently for weeks on end.
The congressman predicted earlier today that Weiner would be able to return to being an effective congressman “if the press gets off his back.”
The ever-quotable Rangel also said he doesn’t understand why Weiner is being singled out for criticism.
“I know one thing: He wasn’t going out with prostitutes, he wasn’t going out with little boys, he wasn’t going into men’s rooms with broad stances.”
“All of those things I understand.” “Certainly I know immoral sex when I hear it from other (House) members and no one has screamed for their resignation, so I don’t know why they’re selecting Anthony.”
Take Capital Tonight and the State of Politics blog with you everywhere you go with our iPhone app! The mobile application features our blog posts, interviews, and a report news tool to send us your political news tips.