It is about time. Rep Rangel has served his constituency well and it is time to pass the baton to a new generation especially given his current problems. Whether guilty or not he should do what is best for his district.
NEW YORK — Adam Clayton Powell IV, a state assemblyman and son of a legendary New York political figure, announced Monday he would seek the seat his father once held and challenge veteran Rep. Charles Rangel, who stepped down last month as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee amid ethics charges.
Powell, 47, said he honored Rangel’s 40 years of service but that it was time for new leadership for the 15th District, which covers much of Manhattan’s Harlem and Upper West Side neighborhoods.
"Everyone knows change is coming. The question is when?" Powell told reporters at a news conference at a Harlem intersection he referred to as the "lucky corner."
Powell’s late father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was a Harlem pastor and well-known political figure who represented the district in Congress from 1944 until 1970. He was New York’s first black congressman.
Powell Jr. was removed from office in 1967 amid allegations he had misused congressional funds. He ran again and won the seat in 1968 before losing to Rangel in 1970.
Rangel relinquished his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee in March after being admonished by a congressional ethics panel for taking corporate trips to the Caribbean in violation of House rules. Rangel has said he was stepping aside only temporarily, but he diminished clout on Capitol Hill helped draw a challenge from Powell and at least one other candidate, 40-year-old Vincent Morgan, a banker who once worked for Rangel.
The primary is Sept. 14.
Adam Clayton Powell IV To Challenge Charlie Rangel For Harlem Seat
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