BREAKING NEWS OVERNIGHT!!

Rangel admits Fun in the Sun at Caribbean hideaways

Longtime Democrat incumbent Rep. Charlie Rangel held an unusual "midnight" media availability to announce a negative finding by the House Ethics Panel probing allegations of mis-use of taxpayer dollars by his Congressional office.

From Fox News:

Embattled House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., said Thursday night the Ethics Committee will publicly admonish him for allowing a private corporation to pay for trips he and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.

"The trip was approved. Whether it should have been approved is a serious issue," Rangel said. "Now what information they had that I should have had, that's another matter."

As he read from the report, Rangel said the committee indicated that two of his staff members were versed in the trips and knew that private corporations were footing the bill.

Rangel said that one of those aides has now been "discharged," but he didn't name either employee.

One of the employees in quetion was his former chief of staff and close confidante George Dalley. The gregarious Dalley was a well-known fixture on Capitol Hill.

Rangel declined to answer a reporter's question as to whether he will now step down as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ethics problems draws opponent for first time in 40 years

Rangel may be allowed by the Democrat House leadership to finish out his term. It remains an open question if he will be permitted to remain Chairman of House Ways and Means.

However, the the powerful Congressman may now face a serious challenge to his incumbency on another front. He has drawn a challenger for the first time in 40 years for his House seat. And the gentleman is running as a Republican (and perhaps also on New York's Independent, Conservative and Other Party lines).

The Reverand Michel J. Faulkner is a former player with the New York Jets. He's also a community activist involved in numerous charitable causes. He led a Drug Rehab Center, was director of the well-known Lamb's Church in Times Square for many years, and was Senior Pastor at the Central Baptist Church in Manhattan.

Rev. Faulkner also served in Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration on the City Task Force for Charter Review.

Rangel more about stuffing his pockets, than Jobs for the District

From Rev. Michel Faulkner, NY Post Feb 26:

My opponent is 40-year incumbent, Charles Rangel. Unfortunately Mr. Rangel has come to epitomize what is wrong with Washington today. His gross underpayment of federal income taxes while chairing the House Ways and Means Committee shows the hypocrisy of our Congress. Furthermore, his occupation of four rent-stabilized apartments (while so many in our community are in desperate need of affordable housing), demonstrates his disconnect from our needs and struggles. It could not be clearer that the people of this city deserve a new direction and need new leadership.

My priorities are this: We need to bring government spending under control. Those who control the purse-strings in DC have irresponsibly spent our nation into near bankruptcy and mortgaged our futures.

While the national unemployment rate has been making headlines lately, the need for job creation in my community has been at a critical level for generations. To address this crisis, we must recognize that nearly 80% of all jobs in America today are created by small businesses, and for that reason we need to reduce the red-tape and tax burden on these critical economic engines. I also intend to promote programs that use microfinance initiatives to support a path to economic self-reliance, to expand economic opportunities for individuals and to foster community economic development.

Rangel's district includes Harlem, the upper Westside and a slice of Queens.

For more info FaulknerforCongress.com