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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (56058)	11/25/2008 10:33:03 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224680

The New York Times on Tuesday reported that Mr. Rangel helped preserve the loophole for a company whose chief executive made a $1 million pledge to help build the Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service. Nabors was one of four companies to benefit from the loophole. In 2004, Mr. Rangel led the fight against Republicans trying to establish the loophole. Mr. Isenberg acknowledged pledging $1 million to help build the school several weeks after meeting with Mr. Rangel and college fund-raising officials in September 2006 about the project. After making a $100,000 donation on Dec. 19, 2006, Mr. Isenberg met with Mr. Rangel again on Feb 12, 2007 — the day the bill was being marked up in Mr. Rangel’s committee — at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan. First, they discussed the project with the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, Mr. Isenberg said. Then he and Mr. Rangel walked across the room and spoke with Kenneth Kies, a lobbyist for Nabors, who asked for — and got — assurances, that Mr. Rangel would oppose efforts to close the loophole, according to both Mr. Kies and Mr. Isenberg. Mr. Isenberg said he gave another $100,000 check made out to “The Rangel Center” on Feb. 7. It cleared on Feb. 23, he said. Both Mr. Isenberg and Leslie Kiernan, a lawyer representing Mr. Rangel, have said there was no connection between the donation and the tax matter. Federal law and House rules prohibit members from asking for anything of value from “anyone who seeks official action from the House, does business with the House or has interests which may be substantially affected by the performance of official duties.” Members are also prohibited from taking official action to induce someone else to provide a benefit to a third party. Even before the reports about his dealings with Nabors, Mr. Rangel had been the subject of ethics inquiries into an assortment of issues related to his fund-raising and personal finances; using congressional stationery to ask foundations to support the school project; failing to report or pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic; and occupying four rent-stabilized apartments in a Harlem apartment building.