For Rangel, a Complicated Relationship with A.I.G.

As Congress moved this week to levy a 90 percent tax on the $165 million in bonuses paid to executives of the American International Group, one of the more conspicuous expressions of outrage came from Representative Charles B. Rangel.

As public anger over the bonuses surged, Mr. Rangel on Wednesday introduced a bill that would seize most of the bonuses paid to A.I.G., which received billions in taxpayer bailout funds.

“Dreams have been shattered and homes have been lost because a small group of executives were motivated by greed rather than preserving a system that America and the world depend upon,” said Mr. Rangel, a Harlem Democrat and chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. After the measure passed the House overwhelmingly the next day, Mr. Rangel congratulated his colleagues on their bold action, saying that A.I.G. executives “have gotten away with murder in what they’ve done to our communities.”

Read more: (David Kocieniewski, “For Rangel, a Complicated Relationship with A.I.G.,” The New York Times, 3/21/09)