Real Estate Developers Are Major Rangel Donors
In many ways, Vornado Realty Trust, the Kimco Realty Corporation and Apollo Real Estate Advisers represent the real estate vanguard of the new Harlem.
Vornado is building an office tower on 125th Street that some residents fear will accelerate gentrification. Kimco moved to push out longtime local store owners to demolish a building and put a new retail complex in its place. And Apollo is leading a contentious effort to turn the historically rent-stabilized Delano Village apartment complex — which has been renamed Savoy Park — into a more profitable property.
They have something else in common: Executives and people tied to the companies, along with other real estate concerns, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Representative Charles B. Rangel’s fund-raising operation since the 2004 election cycle.
Mr. Rangel is facing scrutiny after revelations this month that he had four rent-stabilized apartments in a luxury building in Harlem; he has since announced that he would give up one of the units, which he had been using as an office. There have also been complaints from some neighbors that he has not done enough to help less powerful tenants avoid eviction from the building.
Mr. Rangel responded in part by stressing his long history in the neighborhood and his affection for it. But even as he extols the old Harlem, he is generating significant campaign contributions from those at the forefront of the new.
Indeed, Mr. Rangel, a prodigious fund-raiser, has collected more money from real estate interests than all but two other members of Congress this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that tracks campaign donations. He is fifth in fund-raising from all sectors. In all, he has raised more than $700,000 from real estate interests since the 2004 election cycle, much of it from New York-based companies, according to the group’s analysis.
The tally shows the degree to which Mr. Rangel’s extensive fund-raising operation — which includes a political action committee that he uses to support Democrats around the country — relies on the real estate sector as a base.
Mr. Rangel’s aides say he has no special relationship with the real estate industry. A major tax bill he introduced late last year would have increased the tax rate on many developers, an aide noted. The bill did contain a limited exemption for real estate investment trusts that the industry wanted.
Jon Sheiner, legislative director for Mr. Rangel, said: “There are no special favors. Mr. Rangel insists that his staff listen to the views of all sectors, all constituents. Contributors don’t get treated any better or any worse than the next guy. We don’t check those things.”
The congressman’s donations have poured in from a range of real estate interests since the 2004 election cycle. Mr. Rangel received money from individuals connected to companies whose executives play a leading role in an influential New York lobbying organization, the Rent Stabilization Association, which has sought to erode the laws governing rent controls in the city. Donations came from the Durst Organization ($38,000) and Glenwood Management ($30,425).
Mr. Sheiner said the companies had never lobbied Mr. Rangel about it, because it was not a federal issue.
In recent months, Mr. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, came through on an important agenda item for the real estate investment trusts, or REITs, which are publicly owned and operated companies that invest in real estate. A legislative priority for the REITs, the measure, initially approved by Mr. Rangel’s committee, would, among other things, make it easier for the trusts to sell their properties and allow them to develop and manage properties for other businesses, provided they pay corporate taxes that they generally do not pay. The measure was included in the far-reaching package providing assistance for the nation’s housing market that Congress is set to send to President Bush.
The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the industry’s lobbying arm in Washington, has given nearly $25,000 to Mr. Rangel’s fund-raising operation over the last three election cycles. The group’s president, Steven A. Wechsler, sent a letter on April 8 to Mr. Rangel applauding his leadership on the issue. The group, 13 days later, sent one of his political action committees a check for $2,500.
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