Charles Bernard "Charlie" Rangel (born June 11, 1930), (pronounced /ˈræŋɡəl/ ) is an American politician. He has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1971, representing the Fifteenth Congressional District of New York. Rangel's district, the smallest in the country in geographic size, encompasses Upper Manhattan and includes such neighborhoods as Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, Morningside Heights, and part of the Upper West Side, as well as a small portion of Queens in the neighborhood of Astoria. In January 2007, he became chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Rangel is the most senior member of New York's congressional delegation. He is the first African-American to chair the committee. Rangel earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in the Korean War.
On September 24, 2008, the House Ethics Committee announced an investigation into Rangel's alleged failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental income or pay taxes on a beach rental property in the Dominican Republic, allegedly living in multiple rent-stabilized apartments in New York City while claiming his Washington, D.C. home as his primary residence for tax purposes, alleged use of congressional stationery to solicit donors for a public policy institute in his name at City College, and other alleged questionable activities.
On June 26, 2009, Bloomberg News reported on Chairman Rangel's role in the Diageo Rum Bailout.
On September 1, 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported on Chairman Rangel's lack of action on pending legislation that would prevent $2.9 billion of U.S. Tax dollars from going to British concern Diageo. On September 2, 2009, the L.A. Times reported on Chairman Rangel's association with a deal to give $2.8 billion of U.S. Tax dollars to Diageo to make rum in the U.S. Virgin Islands. On September 20, 2009, the Associated Press reported on Chairman Rangel's ethics problems. On October 6, 2009, the Washington Times reported on the campaign contributions Chairman Rangel received related to the $2.8 billion rum deal he supports.
On November 12th, 2009, The Hill reported on Chairman Rangel's involvement in stopping legislation (H.R. 2122) that prevents $3.9 billion in rum bailouts from being voted on in the Ways and Means Committee.
Early life, military service, and education
Charles Bernard Rangel was born in Harlem in New York City, the second of three children. His family was Roman Catholic. His father Ralph Rangel , Sr. (January 6, 1900–?) was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. His mother Blanche Mary Wharton (March 20, 1904–March 6, 1995) worked as a maid and as a seamstress in a factory in New York's Garment District. Rangel's father was a frequently absent, unemployed man who was abusive to his wife and who left the family when his son was six years old. Rangel did well in elementary and middle school, and began working at a neighorhood drug store at the age of eight. Rangel then attended DeWitt Clinton High School, but was often truant and was sometimes driven home by the police. An early role model, his maternal grandfather who worked in a courthouse and knew many judges and lawyers, kept him from getting into more serious trouble. Rangel dropped out at age 16 during his junior year and worked in various menial jobs, including selling shoes.
Rangel then enlisted in the United States Army, and served from 1948 to 1952. During the Korean War, he was a member of the all-black 503rd Field Artillery Battalion in the 2nd Infantry Division. In late November 1950, this unit was caught up in heavy fighting in North Korea as part of the U.N. forces retreat from the Yalu River. In the Battle of Kunu-Ri, Rangel was part of a vehicle column that was trapped and attacked by the Chinese Army. In the subzero cold, Rangel was injured by shrapnel from a Chinese shell. Some U.S. soldiers were being taken prisoner, but others looked to Rangel, who though only a private first class had a reputation for leadership in the unit. Rangel led some 40 men from his unit, during three days of freezing weather, out of the Chinese encirclement; nearly half of the battalion was killed in the overall battle. Rangel was awarded a Purple Heart for his wounds and the Bronze Star with Valor for his actions in the face of death. He was also awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and three battle stars. In 2000, Rangel reflected with CBS News that "Since Kunu Ri – and I mean it with all my heart, I have never, never had a bad day."
Rangel would later view his time in the Army, away from the poverty of his youth, as a major turning point in his life: "When I was exposed to a different life, even if that life was just the Army, I knew damn well I couldn't get back to the same life I had left." After an honorable discharge from the Army at the rank of staff sergeant, he returned home to headlines in The New York Amsterdam News . Rangel finished high school, completing two years of studies in one year and graduating in 1953. Rangel then received a B.S. from the New York University School of Commerce in 1957, where he made the dean's list, and, on full scholarship, obtained a Juris Doctor from St. John's University School of Law in 1960.
Rangel is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African-Americans. He is a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand Alpha Phi Alpha's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.
Early legal and political career
After graduating law school, Rangel passed the state bar exam and was hired by Weaver, Evans & Wingate, the city's most prominent black law firm. Rangel made little money in private practice, but did get a positive reputation for providing legal assistance to black civil rights activists. In 1961, Rangel was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York by U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, working under U.S. Attorney Robert Morgenthau. He stayed in that position for a year.
Following that, Rangel was legal counsel to the New York Housing and Redevelopment Board, associate counsel to the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, a law clerk to pioneering Judge James L. Watson, and general counsel to the National Advisory Commission on Selective Service (1966). His interest in politics grew with these roles; he ran but lost for party district leader during an intense Democratic factional dispute in Harlem in 1963. In 1964, Rangel and the man who would become his political mentor, New York State Assemblyman Percy Sutton, co-founded the John F. Kennedy Democratic Club in Harlem (later renamed the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Democratic Club).
Rangel met Alma Carter, a social worker, in the mid-late-1950s while on the dance floor of the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. They married on July 26, 1964. They have two children, Steven and Alicia, and three grandsons.
Rangel participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, marching for four days even though he had planned only a brief appearance. He developed what The New York Times would label his irrepressible energy and joking self-mockery during this period in his life.
Rangel was selected by Harlem Democrats to run for the New York State Assembly in 1966, representing the 72nd Legislative District in Central Harlem, after incumbent Sutton was named Manhattan Borough President. Rangel was victorious and served two two-year terms there. He emerged as a leader among the black legislators in the state, and also became politically friendly with Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller, who arranged for Rangel to run on the Republican as well as Democratic ballot line during his 1968 re-election. Rangel supported legalization of the numbers game, saying "For the average Harlemite, playing numbers ... is moral and a way of life." He also opposed harsher penalties on prostitutes, on grounds of ineffectiveness. He was strongly concerned by the effects of drugs on Harlem, advocated that drug pushers be held accountable for the crimes committed by their users, and in general believed the problem was at the level of a threat to national security.
In 1969, Rangel ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City Council President; in a tumultuous race that featured sportswriter Jimmy Breslin as mayoral candidate Norman Mailer's running mate, Rangel came in last in a field of six candidates.
In 1970, Rangel ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives, challenging long-time incumbent Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in the Democratic primary in New York's 18th congressional district. Powell had been an iconic, charismatic, and flamboyant figure who had become embroiled in an ethics controversy in 1967, lost his seat, then regained it in 1969 due to the U.S. Supreme Court decision Powell v. McCormack . In a field of five candidates, Rangel focused his criticism on Powell's frequent absences from Congress. In the June primary, Rangel defeated Powell by 150 votes out of around 25,000. Powell tried to take legal action to overturn the result, claiming over a thousand ballots were improper, but was unsuccessful; he also failed to get on the ballot as an independent. With both Democratic and Republican backing, Rangel won the November 1970 general election – against a Liberal Party candidate and several others – with 88 percent of the vote.
U.S. House of Representatives
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