Rangel's Pet Cause Bears His Own Name

Rangel retorted: "I would have a problem if you did it, because I don't think that you've been around long enough . . . to inspire a building like this in a school."

From the center's earliest stages, Rangel has used his influence to help. In 2005, he wrote an appeal on congressional stationery to about 100 foundations, saying the project "will allow me to locate the inspirational aspects of my legacy in my home Harlem community."

Soon, the Ford Foundation committed $1 million and also held a gathering with other foundations on Jan. 29, 2007. Rangel "spoke very passionately and eloquently about the need for more public servants from minority groups," Butler said.

CCNY took in $500,000 from the Verizon Foundation, $130,000 from the New York Community Trust and $50,000 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Butler said. It secured donations from the Ann S. Kheel Charitable Trust ($440,000) and the Rhodebeck Charitable Trust ($25,000).

The Kheel donation was by far the largest in the trust's short history. Rangel is its board chairman. New York labor arbitrator Theodore W. Kheel established the trust in 2004 to honor his late wife, creating a $1 million fund to promote causes that serve disadvantaged New York neighborhoods.

Rangel said Kheel, a longtime friend, and his daughter "recommended it" and "I just went along with them."

In Washington, Rangel helped land two HUD Economic Development Initiative grants, which are supposed to finance housing and public facilities rehabilitation and construction for the benefit of low- to moderate-income people. CCNY will use the money for "planning, design, construction, renovation and build out" of the center, according to HUD.

Rangel said that he did not recall seeking the HUD grants but that he would not hesitate to pursue more public money.

Trump, who has also been a Rangel campaign supporter, has not donated to the project, though Rangel visited him along with Williams on May 1, 2007.

"Charlie Rangel is the most honorable, honest politician in Washington and, frankly, anything he's concerned with is 100 percent straight up," Trump said in a telephone interview.

Victor Fleischer, a tax law expert at the University of Illinois College of Law, said Trump could benefit from Rangel's local connections in New York City and his role in setting tax policy for overseas investment interests.

Butler, the college's chief fundraiser, said there was no pressure on businesses to give. "We got turned down many more times than we got accepted," she said.

"As far as Congressman Rangel goes, starting with his war record and through 40 years of public service, he's a man of great integrity and he's proved over and over again his dedication to the public good," she said, adding: "He's a giant today."

Research editor Alice Crites and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.