Shocker: Donations to Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service Dry Up

Maybe if they rename it the "Rangel Center for Scuzzy Scam Artists" the money would start flowing in. Really, I'm stunned people would stop throwing money at a place named after a lowlife grifter like this.

The limestone mansion that is to house the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College is a graffiti-scarred, empty wreck.

The fate of the building, and the center itself, was called into question last week when the House ethics committee charged Rangel with 13 violations, nine involving fund raising for the center.

Rangel used House stationery, congressional staff and government mailing privileges to solicit donations from business leaders and charitable foundations tied to large corporations, the House committee found.

The appeals brought in almost $9 million in pledges, at least $8 million of which has been paid to the college. The center has also received tax dollars through a congressional appropriation and City Council funding.

But the college has received just $3,315 in donations since the Rangel scandal broke in September 2008, and not a penny came in this year.

The college has previously said it needs $30 million to renovate the padlocked mansion and fulfill its mission to prepare minority students for careers in public service.

Yes, preparing kids for a career in, ahem, public service, where they can learn how to scam four rent-controlled apartments in one building while at the same time managing to skip paying taxes on luxury villas in the Caribbean, all on the public dime.

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