Harlem Voters on Charles Rangel-Adam Clayton Powell Race: Do We Have to Vote for One of Them?

Many Harlem voters say their two top contenders for Congress – incumbent Charles Rangel and Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV – leave them with a choice between bad and worse.

“Everybody wishes there were better options,” said Pax Williams, a 33-year-old party promoter who plans to vote for Rangel because “you don’t want to get anyone worse.”

Rangel faces a House trial on 13 ethics charges, including tax evasion, and, as the Daily News reported Thursday, Powell took thousands in campaign cash – which he is returning – from an ex-con strip-club king.

“You don’t know what else is coming out of the bag with either of them,” said 73-year-old Leo Mobley of central Harlem.

Read more: (Kathleen Lucadamo, “Harlem Voters on Charles Rangel-Adam Clayton Powell Race: Do We Have to Vote for One of Them?,” New York Daily News, 09/03/10)