In response to a Complaint filed by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has entered into a conciliation agreement with Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and his so-called National Leadership PAC (NLP). The FEC found that "there was reason to believe" that Rangel and NLP violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 by using a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office. Rangel and NLP agreed to pay a fine of $23,000. Click here to download a 23-page pdf of the Conciliation Agreement.Click here to download a 16-page pdf of NLPC's Complaint.
The Complaint was based on articles in 2008 by David New York Times reporter David Kocieniewski that detailed how Rangel lived in three adjoining rent-stabilized apartments and used a fourth as a campaign office. This coverage prompted a more far-reaching examination of Rangel's finances that led NLPC to discover that Rangel failed to pay taxes on rental income from a Dominican Republic beach house, and accepted corporate-funded Caribbean junkets.
