Under media pressure, Rep. Charles Rangel gives up his cheapie luxury apartment

The head of a powerful congressional committee, who has been under fire for getting a $4,000- to $5,000-per-month break on his four-apartment Harlem complex, says he will move his office from one of the rent-secure units. A developer has allowed Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who heads the House Ways and Means Committee, to lease four luxury apartments for rock-bottom prices at a time when tenants are being evicted from rent-stabilized apartments throughout New York City, The New York Times reports. A one-bedroom unit he used for his office was paid for with money from his re-election fund and from a political action committee, according to the Times. However, City and state law stipulates that rent-stabilized apartments must be used as primary residences only. Because the unit is rent-stabilized, Rangel, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, paid $630 instead of $1,700 per month or higher, the newspaper reports. Last week, Rangel said there was nothing improper with him having three rent-stabilized apartments, which are all adjacent on the 16th floor, according to the Times. But he said he would review the legality of his using the fourth apartment for his office. Rangel paid $3,894 rent for the four apartments, while the Lenox Terrace Web site lists similar rental units for $7,465 to $8,125 per month, the Times reports. In a complaint filed to the Federal Election Commission on Monday by the National Legal and Policy Center, the group’s chairman, Ken Boehm, said, “If a powerful congressman can receive significant corporate in-kind contributions year after year while failing to disclose those contributions, the message being sent is that the law is a sham.”