House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has joined a “million-dollar club,” but it’s probably not an accomplishment he wants to celebrate.

Rangel’s latest campaign finance disclosures show that his campaign and his leadership PAC have now paid more than $1 million to lawyers defending against a wide-ranging investigation of his personal finances

.

Rangel’s reelection campaign has spent more than $900,000 on lawyers since July 2008, when it was first reported that the veteran lawmaker controlled four rent-stabilized units in a luxury Harlem apartment building. National Leadership PAC, Rangel’s leadership fund, also paid $100,000 to a law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, in January, its latest Federal Election Commission filing shows.

Federal election law allows lawmakers to use campaign funds to pay legal bills related to their official duties.

Rangel has faced a series of questions over his failure to pay taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic, his fundraising on behalf of the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York and his actions on behalf of a million-dollar donor to the center who was looking to retain a lucrative tax break.

  • Share/Save/Bookmark