Tax-Cheat Charlie Stays Afloat With Help From Lobbyists

Corrupt Harlem Democrat Rakes in More than $213,000 in Donations Bundled by Lobbyists

SPIN CYCLE: Speaker Pelosi Vowed that Democrats Would Lead the “Most Honest, Most Open, and Most Ethical Congress in History”

"Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts." (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21)

RINSE CYCLE: FEC Records Show Corrupt Harlem Democrat Charlie Rangel Relies on Lobbyist Help to Keep Declining Fundraising Efforts Afloat

Embattled Rep. Charles Rangel's flagging fund-raising efforts are being kept afloat by lobbyists who round up and deliver donors for the powerful committee chairman, new campaign-finance filings reveal.

The lobbyists, including former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., "bundled" more contributions for Rangel than for any other member of Congress in the last quarter, enabling the Harlem Democrat to raise hefty sums without lifting a finger.

Federal Election Commission records show that Rangel has received more than $213,000 in donations bundled by lobbyists since new rules requiring disclosure of those donations went into effect at the beginning of the year. Last quarter alone, Rangel, beset by tax woes despite heading the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, got $125,000 in bundled donations.

He needs the help. By this point in the last congressional cycle, he had raised more than twice the $1.1 million he's reaped this year. (Daphne Retter, “Reeling Rangel hitches ride on his lobby hor$e,” New York Post, 10/26/2009)

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