Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) used campaign cash to repay the costs of his corporate-sponsored Caribbean trips after being asked to pay for the trips himself by the House Ethics Commitee, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. Rangel has also continued to pay legal fees connected to his ethics problems from his campaign funds.
After being publically admonished by the House Ethics Committee for accepting travel gifts from corporations, the congressman spent $3,480 from his campaign on Caribbean “travel refunds,” according to his April FEC campaign report.
Records also show that Rangel spent nearly $57,860 in attorney fees from January to March. The congressman has been consistently mired in legal problems since it was first revealed that he occupied three rent-stabilized apartments in a luxury building in New York City. In the months that followed, the NLPC helped expose Rangel’s corporate sponsored trips taken in 2007 and 2008, as well as his failure to disclose rental income he received from a beach villa he owned in the Dominican Republic.
Rangel’s spokesperson was reached, but declined to comment over the phone. His office has not yet responded to email requests for comment.
Alana Goodman is NLPC’s Capitol Hill Reporter.
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