Dear Editor,
I am saddened to read (Congressman Charles) “Rangel (has been) hit with charges” (SN Jul 30). That could hurt Democrats in the November mid term Congressional elections and could potentially end the Harlem representative’s political career sooner than he may have thought. The Republicans smell blood and will hound Rangel and the Democrats to make gains in the off year elections.
Rangel has provided effective representation in his Harlem seat that he represented for some 40 years. City College of NY, where thousands of Guyanese studied and are studying, is located in his seat. Guyanese have been enrolled at CCNY since the 1970s and other Caribbean nationals much earlier.
Rangel provided a lot of assistance to the huge campus benefiting tens of thousands of Caribbean nationals. I met him several times at political meetings I helped organize at CCNY when I was a student government officer. He would also come to the campus when we organized Harlem Renaissance week. It is unfortunate that his attempt to have his lifetime papers located in a special Rangel Center at City College has led to one of the charges against him. He has raised enormous amounts of assistance for the college benefiting Caribbean students with various kinds of grants. The college and Guyanese and other Caribbean students would be hurt by the several charges against the Congressman because he may no longer be effective in raising funds for the college.
The Congressman faces a challenger in the primary nomination election for his seat in September. He will prevail and also win re-election. But I will not be surprised if the President and the Democratic Congressional leadership urge him not to seek reelection. The charges would create a circus around Rangel and the Democrats. The Republicans will milk his troubles.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
