Rangel's Chutzpah Continues

Rep. Charles Rangel must think his constituents are idiots if he thinks this will fly:

We didn't want that apartment anyway

"They had decided they were going to move anyway," Rangel said brusquely.

The powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee announced the move Monday night amid questions about four rent-stabilized apartments he has at the Lenox Towers complex in Harlem.

The 78-year-old lawmaker uses three of the below-market apartments as a residence, and the fourth was occupied by his campaign committee.

He said the lease for the office was up in October, and his campaign staff was already looking to pull up stakes and find bigger quarters.

Housing laws dictate that rent-stabilized apartments be used only as the leaseholder's primary residence, but Rangel said he didn't know that.

"I did not have any idea that it was wrong and we're removing that from the discussion by leaving [the apartment]," he said.

Right. You're paying half the market rate and you didn't want that apartment? You're either dumber than a bag of hammers, or think your constituents are.

Who buys into this nonsense? Well, considering that Rangel's constituents in Harlem keep reelecting him without the slightest consideration of any opponent, I'd say that Rangel definitely thinks no one cares.

He's probably right, and I suspect he will once again be reelected by a strong majority.

Rangel took advantage of the rent stabilization program, enabling him to save tens of thousands of dollars every year in rents on his four units. The unit in question that he's giving up was one that he used as an office in violation of the rent stabilization guidelines.

It's amazing chutzpah for him to claim that he had no idea about the office prohibition given that he's often championed affordable housing programs, which means he knows the ins and outs of rent stabilization and rent control programs in New York State.

And that's not even the most audacious thing Rangel's done so far. Jammie has the details about Rangel's use of Congressional letterhead to raise funds for a library to house his papers and records.