Rangel Still Occupying Rent-Stabilized Office Apartment

Upon outrage over news that he occupied four rent-stabilized apartments, Representative Charles Rangel said in July he would give up one used as a campaign office. Now, two and a half months later, Rangel's campaign office is still at Lenox Terrace, according to the NY Post. A lawyer for Rangel, who pays $630/month while the unit's market value is $1,700-2,005 (and rent stabilization only applies to residential use), says, "The campaign identified a new office in a newly restored brownstone in Harlem within three weeks of Mr. Rangel's announcement that he was leaving the Lenox Terrace space. The campaign will be the first tenants in the building, and it had to wait for the construction to be completed." But a government watchdog group thinks Rangel is being "disingenuous."