John Smith

This morning The New York Times in an editorial asked Congressman Charles Rangel of New York to at least temporarily resign his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee (see attached). For weeks, Rangel has been engulfed by charges of corruption and unethical behavior. The situation has grown so grave that recently, the Democratic National Committee refunded Rangel a $100,000 contribution from one of his fundraising committees (see attached NY Post article).

For Joe Garcia none of this seems to matter. Rangel has funneled thousands of dollars in cash into Garcia’s campaign account including $10,000 from his political action committee and $4,000 from his personal campaign account (www.fec.gov). Earlier this year, Rangel hosted an event in New York for Garcia where approximately $25,000 was exchanged (invitation attached).

Rangel’s contributions to Garcia raise additional questions about Garcia’s campaign finances. Earlier this year Garcia refused to disclose the origin of over $51,000 in campaign contributions. In clear contrast, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart has disclosed all campaign contributions regardless of the amount.

“Joe Garcia needs to come clean. Taking campaign cash from a corrupt Congressman representing the far left of the Democratic Party is out of step with District 25 voters. That might fly in South Beach, but not in Dade and Collier suburbs,” said campaign spokesman Carlos Curbelo.