Sestak Jettisons Rangel’s Money
Most Democrats aren’t calling for Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to resign, but they’re continuing to donate the campaign contributions they received from him to charity. Yesterday, after Rangel had been charged with 13 counts of rules violations, it was Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), engaged in a tight Senate race with former GOP representative Pat Toomey, who announced that he will donate the $12,000 he had received from Rangel to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer.
It was a fitting donation for Sestak.The Pennsylvania rep was a strong supporter of the Obama administration’s health care reform bill following his daughter’s fight with brain cancer: he credited her successful recovery in part to the U.S. military’s excellent TRICARE health care program.
Former Rep. Pat Toomey had been harping on Sestak in recent days about Rangel’s “dirty money,” though Sestak spokesman Jonathan Dworkin argues that Sestak, “always said he would take action when appropriate and given the reports today, he decided it was the right thing to do.”
