State Assemblyman exploring a challenge for his father’s old congressional seat
New York State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV may not be looking forward to the start of 2010. On Jan. 19, he goes to trial on drunken driving charges that date back to March 2008, when police stopped him while driving in the early morning on the Henry Hudson Parkway.
But Powell, who maintains he is innocent of the charges, says he’s looking forward to the rest of 2010 — and perhaps to a run for the Harlem-based congressional seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel.
Adam Clayton Powell IV
In an interview with Northattan.com, Powell said he has not made a final decision on running to replace Rangel, who has represented Harlem in Congress for the last 38 years. Rangel is currently the target of a House Ethics Committee investigation, and Powell maintains that the tax evasion allegations against Rangel are far more serious than his drunken driving charges — so serious, predicted Powell, that there’s at least a 50-50 chance Rangel will not run again.
“I mean, what Rangel is allegedly accused of makes me look like a choir boy,” Powell said in the interview, conducted at his office in East Harlem.
A spokesman for Rangel’s office waved aside Powell’s prediction, saying that the congressman fully intends to run for re-election next year. The spokesman did not comment on the possibility of a Powell challenge, but depicted Rangel as a legislator currently fully engaged in dealing with both national and local issues.
But Rangel is also a legislator under political fire. Last year, The New York Times reported that Rangel paid $3,894 a month for four apartments at Lenox Terrace in Harlem — only about half the market rate, and a possible violation of congressional rules that restrict members from receiving gifts worth more than $50. Ethics investigators are also probing several other allegations, including possible tax violations on a Dominican beach house belonging to Rangel.
Rep. Charles Rangel, approaching 39 years in the House (AP Photo)
While Rangel, the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, remains defiant, Democrats say the charges have damaged his fundraising, and some have called for him to step down rather than put himself and his party through a bruising re-election campaign next fall. New York banker Vince Morgan, an ex-Rangel aide, has already announced that he will stand in the Democratic primary.
Powell, 47, is not in the race officially, but he has launched an exploratory committee to evaluate his chances for winning the 15th District seat.
There is a lot to explore. Though Powell shares the name of his powerful and popular politician father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the son’s career has been shadowed by the drunken driving charge and two other brushes with the law in recent years. In 2004, two women accused him of rape, though one later recanted. Prosecutors who investigated the second rape allegation did not file charges; according to The New York Times, Powell, who is divorced, later acknowledged having had consensual sex with both women.
Adam Clayton Powell IV studied at Howard University and received a law degree at Fordham University. From 1992 to 1997, he represented East Harlem and parts of Manhattan’s Upper West Side and the South Bronx on the New York City Council. Since 2000, he has served in the New York State Assembly, representing the 68th District, an area that covers Spanish and East Harlem, as well as Randall’s Island.
Powell has made few headlines with legislative initiatives during his eight years in the State Assembly. The now-defunct New York Sun reported in 2007 that a legislative database showed Powell had not introduced a single bill for nearly three years. Powell, wrote the Sun, “has stood out for his streak of inactivity.” Powell countered that “there’s much more to being a strong leader” than introducing bills. “Each bill we introduce costs thousands of dollars,” he told the Sun.
Powell has had his eye on higher political office for years. In 1994, he ran unsuccessfully against Rangel. Ten years later, he started an exploratory committee to look into the potential of running once again but backed off because Rangel was such a strong force in Congress at the time.
“He was the most senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee when the Republicans were still in control” of the House, said Powell. “Sure enough, in 2006, the Democrats regained control of Congress, and he became the chairman of Ways and Means.”
More recently, Powell considered running for the New York City public advocate position vacated by Betsy Gotbaum this year. But he withdrew after Democrat Mark Green entered the race. Green had served as public advocate from 1995 to 2002, and Powell thought he could not be beaten. However, Green did eventually lose to Bill de Blasio.
Now, Powell says that Rangel’s time may be up. “Whether people know who is running (against Rangel) or not, everybody agrees that change is coming, and it’s going to happen soon,” he said.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., an historic Harlem figure (AP Photo)
In 1970, Rangel defeated Powell’s father, the late Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., whose name graces both Harlem’s state office building and 7th Avenue north of 110th street. Powell, Jr. was the first black congressman from New York, and for more than a quarter of a century, he was a formidable presence in the House, until corruption charges undermined his political standing. In January 1967, Powell Jr. lost his chairmanship of the House Education and Labor Committee after he took committee funds for personal use. Later that year, the House voted to exclude him. While the Supreme Court later overturned the House action, Powell lost the Democratic primary in 1970 to Rangel, who has held the seat ever since.
The longevity of Powell, Jr., who represented the 15th district from 1945 to 1971, and of Rangel, who has served 38 years, has led some to say that it’s time for a fresh face from Harlem — not a return to the Powell political dynasty.
Not surprisingly, Adam Clayton Powell IV doesn’t agree. “The leading candidate for governor in New York state, at least in the polls, is Andrew Cuomo,” he said. “Is anybody telling him that he can’t run because his father was governor of New York?”
“I’m very proud of my father’s legacy, and my grandfather,” said Powell. “I’m not going to get elected because my name is a long name, Adam Clayton Powell IV. Neither should I have to lose because of that. So I think people will make their own decisions based upon the issues and that’s how it should be, regardless of what your name is.”
Powell, Jr. had two sons, with two different wives, who were each named after their father. The elder, Adam Clayton Powell III, is currently vice provost for globalization at the University of Southern California. The younger son was named Adam Clayton Powell Diago, having taken his last name from his Puerto Rican mother, but now goes by the name Adam Clayton Powell IV.
Powell says “leadership” would be the foundation of his campaign appeal: “Someone who is there for this district 100 percent of the time. Someone with a breath of fresh air.”
“Fresh air” is what Powell says Barack Obama brought to his presidential campaign last year. Powell supported the future president early on, while Rangel and other New York Democrats supported then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. That early decision might help him politically. But another position might not: his likely support for Democratic Gov. David Paterson, who has been urged by the White House to drop his campaign for the 2010 elections. Powell conceded that Paterson is “facing some tough times.” But he said “he’s trying the best he can. If he’s going to be there next year, I don’t know, but if he does run, I’ll probably support him.”
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