Primary loss would be a ‘favor’ for Rangel, opponent says

New York State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV said a Rangel loss in the Sept. 14 contest would spare the veteran lawmaker from bearing the consequences of his 13 ethics charges.

{mosads}”I’m doing him a favor by winning on Sept. 14,” Powell said on ABC’s “Top Line” webcast, arguing it would make Rangel’s ethics problems go away.

Rangel holds a lead over Powell and has called for the ethics committee to hold a trial before his primary contest so that he can clear his name to voters who head to the polls. 

The ethics committee typically does not investigate lawmakers who are out of Congress, but has done so in rare cases. If Rangel loses his primary, he would not actually leave office until January 2011.

The former Ways and Means Committee chairman has said he has done nothing intentionally wrong and has promised to campaign hard to hold his seat.

He has defended himself in public multiple times, even taking to the House floor for over 30 minutes last week and daring his colleagues to try to expel him.

Powell has repeatedly called on Rangel to resign, saying that constituents in the 15th congressional district deserve a representative free of corruption. Powell, the son of the man Rangel defeated to take his seat in 1970, said Tuesday that the House should expel Rangel.

“Well, he has got to be expelled if he wants to drag these ethics allegations on through,” he said.

It is not clear when Rangel’s trial will take place. Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), the chairman of the panel that investigated Rangel, said the committee only recommended a reprimand. 

Powell said that Rangel has lost his influence and that his only friends now are “out of touch.”

“Those are the same connections that ask him to step down as chairman of Ways and Means,” he said. “Those are the same connections in Congress who are asking him to please resign.

“This is a political machine, they are so out of touch with the voters, with the people,” he said.