Rangel’s Fundraising Soars — Thanks to Corporate America

[babylonsister]

Rangel’s Fundraising Soars — Thanks to Corporate America
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel doesn’t need to keep a list of his political adversaries. It’s already on file with the Federal Election Commission.

The corporate titans who have the most to lose at the hands of the liberal chief tax writer are fearfully ponying up, hoping to find their way into his good graces. And they are doing so at a record pace, ironically helping position Rangel to keep power over them for years to come.

The 77-year-old New York Democrat racked up nearly $2.7 million for an uncontested re-election campaign through the end of September, according to FEC records. That’s more than any other member of the House, more than Rangel has ever raised in an entire election cycle and far more than his Republican predecessors ever put together in a two-year period. Rangel’s haul exceeds $3 million when his “leadership” committee is included in the figures.

Money has poured in from Wall Street, Washington tax lobbyists, life and health insurers, cigarette makers, pharmaceutical companies and labor unions.

The cash passes through the turnstiles of Rangel’s fundraising committees and is sent out to the party and its candidates -- to the tune of nearly $1 million, according to federal filings and more recent party records.

In working to elect Democratic candidates, Rangel says, he is providing for his constituents in the Harlem-based 15thDistrict..

“They would hope that you do all that you can to stop the war, that you do all you can to have a tax system that is equitable, that you create jobs,” and make health care and housing more affordable, he said. He raises money “so that we can get members of Congress elected that would be supporting these types of themes of the Democratic Party.”

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002620060

[aquart]

1. Well, yeah.

How dumb do you have to be not to suck up to the Ways and Means chairman?

But attempting to equate this with the armtwisting blackmail of BushCo is not gonna fly with me.