Vincent Morgan, a 41-year old community banker and a former Rangel aide, is one of those mounting what appears to be a quixotic bid to defeat him in the September primary. Mr. Rangel “is a creature of a time long gone,” says Mr. Morgan. “He’s at the end of his career. When do we start preparing for the succession?”
“I don’t want to see his reputation tarnished any further and his constituents don’t want that either,” said banker and former Rangel aide Vincent Morgan, who is also waging a primary campaign against him.
“He needs to put his ego aside and start investing in the future of the district,” said Morgan. “We have this tendency to wait for the retirement ceremony or the memorial service before we start planning for the future and I fear that’s what will happen here, too.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/25/AR2010072501672.html?hpid=topnews
Morgan used to work for Rangel, but now calls on Rangel “to hang it up.” He likens Rangel to Muhammad Ali, fighting one too many fights.
“He is an institution. He’s been here for the majority of people’s adult lives. All they know is Charlie Rangel. But enough is enough, it’s time for change and it’s time to turn the page,” Morgan said. “I don’t think Charlie Rangel embodies what the district is today — he embodies what it used to be.”
http://nymag.com/news/features/67283/
Among the declared rivals to Rangel is Vince Morgan, a 41-year-old community banker and former aide to Rangel who grew up in Chicago and is a cousin of Harold Ford Jr. Morgan argues that Rangel is out of touch with Harlem’s grassroots concerns about education, jobs, and housing. “Over 40 years, there’s a wider and wider chasm between the people of the district and their representative in Washington,” Morgan says. “We have a tendency in our community to wait for the retirement service or the memorial service to start planning for the future. I don’t want to put the people of this district in harm’s way because Mr. Rangel’s ego is keeping him in office a little bit too long.”
http://www.theroot.com/views/rangel-defiant?page=0%2C1
Vincent Morgan, a community banker who once worked for Rangel, said he is saddened by the current situation, but he, too, thinks Rangel should retire now with his head held high and still able to impart his institutional knowledge to someone of the younger generation – preferably Morgan. “This would be a great time for him to do the right thing for the people of this district and invest in the next generation of leadership,” said Morgan, who is 41. “We have a tendency in our community to wait for the retirement party or the memorial service before we start planning for the future. I think that’s unfair, and I think that we need to start planning for the future now.”
“I’m sad that we’ve gotten to this point,” said New York banker Vince Morgan, one of Rangel’s Democratic primary challengers who once served as Rangel’s campaign director. “I hope he uses this opportunity to do the right thing for this district. I hope he ends up taking his 40 years of institutional knowledge and investing it in the next generation of leadership.”
Morgan said that while a lot of voters still support Rangel, many of them are disappointed too.
“Any time you have been in office for so long you confuse that you’ve been elected to represent the people with your own personal agenda…it shows that you’re out of touch with the reality of the situation,” he said.
http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/rangel-opponents-weigh-rangel
“This is another example of how Mr. Rangel has let his ego dictate what is best for his district,” said Vince Morgan, the community banker and former Rangel aide who announceed a challenge to Rangel last year. “People have been sitting on their hands waiting to see what happens with Charlie…Now that the specter of these distractions will hopefully be resolved soon I think people will be more vocal and a little more comfortable with the idea that we should move forward.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/nyregion/07rangel.html?src=mv
“He wants one last shot, and frankly, most of the political establishment seems ready to give it to him,” said one of the challengers, Vince Morgan, a 41-year-old banker who argues that the district needs new energy.
Mr. Morgan said, “Why should we give him an ego stroke when the needs of the district are bigger than the needs of this man’s ego?”
http://www.theroot.com/views/charlie-rangel-wants-one-more-round
Morgan, a high school dropout who earned his GED and several college degrees before becoming a banker, says Rangel isn’t hearing what people in the district are saying. The unemployment rate in Harlem over the past 40 years is still at least twice the rest of the city. More than 120,000 people over the age of 25 have no high school diplomas, have not earned GEDs and have very limited prospects in the legitimate job market. He claims small businesses are not in the loop even with the Obama administration’s efforts. “This is what Charlie has fallen down on,” Morgan says. “I haven’t seen a strategic plan.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63R38320100428
After nearly four decades in the Congress, powerful New York Democrat Charlie Rangel is facing one of his toughest re-election campaigns for his Harlem seat.
Among those campaigning for Rangel’s seat is Adam Clayton Powell IV, 47. His father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., was defeated by Rangel in 1971. State Senator Bill Perkins, 59, and Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, 49, have said they are pondering bids, and banker Vince Morgan, 40, is running as well.
“The big picture is that the district has changed so dramatically,” Morgan said. “It’s gotten out in front of the political establishment that’s been in power for so long, they’ve lost control over the progression it’s been making.”
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