With Charles Rangel embroiled in an ethics investigation, lobbyists are busy sifting the tea leaves for a clue on his future.

From the Politico.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of one of the most powerful congressional committees, is under fire and under investigation. What’s a lobbyist with business before his House Ways and Means Committee to do?

When a Capitol Hill giant like Rangel begins to totter — and while his fate is far from decided, the ongoing ethics investigation into his alleged financial misdeeds creates a cloud of uncertainty around his ability to lead the panel — the K Street community scrambles to anticipate and exploit the next move.

Politico spoke with several lobbyists — all of whom requested anonymity as long as Rangel remains a powerful chairman — and a couple of experts to explain how Rangel’s troubles are playing on K Street. So here’s an amalgamated checklist that smart lobbyists with business before Ways and Means will be ticking through as Rangel fights to keep his gavel.

1. Check his vital signs. Lobbyists are pounding the Capitol’s hallways in search of news about how safe Rangel is with the Democratic leadership. So far, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others are sticking by him until the House ethics committee completes its investigation.

But that investigation grew longer when the ethics panel announced it was expanding its inquiry to include allegations, first reported by The New York Times, that Rangel helped an oil company retain a lucrative tax loophole after it donated $1 million to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.

The expanded investigation means the panel’s report is likely to come out far later than the early January date that Pelosi initially had in mind for a resolution.

Lobbyists also want to get the best reading possible on the direction of the ethics committee’s investigation, though that front should be rather quiet until the panel starts debating what action to take. Some lobbyists are even in touch with the many investigative reporters digging up all the dirt they can on Rangel.

2. Study up on the parlor game. While it’s now merely a topic of speculation, the biggest question on K Street is who would replace Rangel, should the investigation’s findings force him to give up the gavel.

“You have to spend a lot of time being ready for that eventuality and assessing as best you can what a possible successor’s priorities are going to be,” said one strategist whose firm has clients with business before the Ways and Means Committee this year.

Lobbyists have to face questions such as: Does the leadership change help or hurt your client? Can you get a fair hearing from the new chairman?

“You’re doing business as usual, but you’re playing three- and four- and five-dimensional chess on other issues,” the strategist said.

With Pelosi protecting Rangel and making a shambles of any investigation, the lobbyists will probably be able to proceed as usual.

 

Share This

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

About the author