FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 28, 2010

 

CONTACT: JAMES SLEPIAN

Canton, OH—In the wake of revelations last week that a House investigatory panel has charged Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) with ethics violations, many House Democrats continue to distance themselves from the corrupt Congressman and purge their campaign coffers of his tainted donations. The decision by Democrats to dump or donate Rangel’s money began months ago as a string of corruption allegations, ranging from improper use of taxpayer dollars to filing fraudulent financial disclosures, began to surface. While dozens of House Democrats have returned or donated Rangel’s contributions, including Ohio members Zack Space and Mary Jo Kilroy, Rep. John Boccieri has remained defiant, refusing to part with the $53,200 he has taken from Rangel.  

 

Boccieri’s refusal to rid his campaign coffers of Rangel’s contributions directly contradicts the position he took in the state legislature when he verbally chastised Ohio Republicans over campaign contributions they received from political fundraiser Tom Noe, who at the time was facing a federal investigation into violations of FEC law. Despite the fact that Republicans in the Ohio Statehouse had already committed Noe’s tainted donations to charity, Boccieri insisted that ridding their campaign accounts of Noe’s money didn’t go far enough and he demanded that Republicans be stripped of committee chairmanships and recuse themselves from legislative matters for having accepted the contributions in the first place. As the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on June 2, 2005, “Rep. John Boccieri, a Mahoning County Democrat, asked that Rep. Stephen Buehrer step down as Chairman of the State Government Committee because of $8,000 in contributions (from Noe).”

 

After accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Rangel in 2007 and 2008, Boccieri neither stepped down from committee assignments nor recused himself from a vote to strip Rangel of his Chairmanship of the Ways & Means committee in 2009 (H.R. 805). In fact, Boccieri not only participated in the vote on H.R. 805, but voted against stripping Rangel of his Chairmanship. 

 

“By desperately clinging to Charlie Rangel’s dirty campaign cash, John Boccieri has already demonstrated a clear lack of ethical integrity—but now it appears he is also guilty of blatant hypocrisy. Although John Boccieri has a long record of breaking his promises to the voters of the 16^th district, he may salvage whatever remains of his shattered reputation by sparing his constituents any further embarrassment over their Congressman’s involvement in Charlie Rangel’s corrupt campaign contributions,” Renacci spokesman James Slepian said.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 26, 2010

CONTACT: JAMES SLEPIAN

 

Canton, OH—Despite last week’s announcement from the House Ethics Committee that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) has committed ethics violations, John Boccieri continues to refuse to refund or donate the nearly $60,000 in tainted campaign contributions he has accepted from Rangel. The embattled Congressman from New York has been the subject of a lengthy ethics investigation stemming from allegations that he engaged in improper use of taxpayer funds and filed fraudulent financial disclosures, among other charges. At least 27 Democratic House members have returned or donated Rangel’s dirty money in recent months, including Ohio Democrats Mary Jo Kilroy and Zack Space, who each returned $21,000 in the corrupt cash earlier this year. However, to date John Boccieri has refused to return any of the $53,200 he has taken from Rangel. 

 

“While John Boccieri hasn’t spent much time listeninng to the people of the 16^th district, he’s apparently had plenty of time to hang out with Charlie Rangel and to line his campaign coffers with tainted money to fund the dirty campaign he’s made clear that he intends to run. Considering his abysmal record in Congress, which has been defined by double-digit unemployment, reckless deficit spending and unwavering loyalty to Nancy Pelosi, the least John Boccieri can do for his constituents is to run a clean campaign funded by clean contributions. It is past time for Mr. Boccieri to follow in the footsteps of his Democratic colleagues and return every cent of Charlie Rangel’s campaign contributions,” Jim Renacci said today. 

 

Between June of 2007 and February of 2008, Boccieri received a total of $9,000 from Rangel’s National Leadership PAC and Rangel’s campaign committee. In August of 2008, Boccieri accepted another $44,200 from the Rangel Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that Boccieri shared with Rangel. In addition to accepting Rangel’s tainted money, last fall Boccieri voted against a measure (H.R. 805) to immediately strip Rangel of his Chairmanship of the House Ways & Means Committee.