Word: yorke
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...been a brutal week for Harlem politicians. On March 3, Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and 20-term representative from New York's 15th district, announced he would temporarily relinquish his stewardship of the powerful tax-writing body in the wake of an ethics investigation that found he violated protocol by accepting corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean. The decision came on the heels of scandal-scarred New York Governor David Paterson's announcement that he will not run for re-election in the fall. The synchronized setbacks of two longtime Harlem leaders have...
...Rangel and Paterson's father Basil were members of Harlem's Gang of Four, along with Percy Sutton - a civil rights activist, lawyer and local power broker, who died Dec. 26 at 89 - and David Dinkins, who served as mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. The group inherited a tradition passed down from trailblazers like Adam Clayton Powell Jr., whom Rangel unseated in 1970, and together shattered scores of racial barriers, attaining offices once dismissed as off-limits and paving the way for the ascension of black leaders around the country. In the process, they turned Harlem...
...current crop of Harlem politicians know that measuring up to their predecessors' accomplishments is impossible. "They are absolutely historic figures," says New York state assemblyman Keith Wright, who represents the district. "Without Percy, Charlie, Basil and Dinkins, you probably wouldn't have this number of [politicians] in Brooklyn, in the Bronx, in Queens. They're pioneers." But Wright acknowledges that the power they accumulated is now flowing elsewhere - to the outer boroughs of New York City and to cities like Chicago, President Barack Obama's adopted hometown...
Spitzer built his career on a reputation for integrity. That the reality of his conduct was more complicated - the famously violent temper, the time wasted in petty turf wars with state legislators - hardly mattered. He spent eight years as attorney general of New York and became known as a defender of the public against the corrupt impulses of Wall Street. He investigated subprime-mortgage lenders for making unscrupulous loans, went after AIG for bid rigging and charged stock analysts with deceptive practices. His nickname, the Sheriff of Wall Street, and his I'm-better-than-everyone-else persona carried...
...father's vast real estate fortune, Spitzer could easily launch a new foundation to fight for causes he believes in. "There is a whole range of possibilities, from educational institutions to housing to microfinance in the developing world," says Avi Schick, a lawyer and the former head of New York's economic-development agency. "He hasn't figured out precisely what he will do." (See the top 10 political gaffes...