A Harlem political club, which benefits from taxpayer money and boasts Rep. Charles Rangel and Councilwoman Inez Dickens as district leaders, has received more than $200,000 in donations since 1999 but didn’t report the income or even register with the state, officials said.
Dickens also happens to be the Martin Luther King Jr. Democratic Club’s landlord, collecting monthly rent.
Yet her campaign paid $4,125 to the club for space during her 2009 council run — taxpayer-matched campaign cash that in part would have boomeranged back to her as rent.
“It’s disturbing to see taxpayer dollars pay for the operating costs of a council member’s building,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of the Citizens Union, a government watchdog. “That a building she owned pocketed money that came from her campaign is unethical and possibly a violation of law.”
During the same year, mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio’s successful public-advocate campaign also paid $3,300 to rent space from the MLK Club, records from his campaign fund show.
Dickens’ campaign is headed by her sister, Dolores Dickens Richards, who’s a co-owner of the building at 2155 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.
Dickens refused to explain why her campaign paid rent to a tenant who paid rent to her: “All campaigns give money to different Democratic clubs. I can’t answer the question. I don’t know the answer.”Read the rest of the story HERE.
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1 comment:
Poor Charlie..It seems everything he's involved or associated with puts money in his pockets while taking it out of the pockets of others. You know what they say, practice makes perfect.
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