Veteran Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel had a decades-long political love affair with the tobacco industry, documents obtained by The Post reveal.
Fawning correspondence between the raspy-voiced Rangel — an ex-smoker now facing a tough re-election — shows he even solicited funds from the industry for the mayoral campaign of David Dinkins.
The documents were provided as part of a tobacco litigation settlement in 1998 and are now public.
They show Rangel sent his tobacco pals “thank you” notes on his congressional stationary — a practice forbidden under current House ethics rules.
Rangel was censured by the House for ethics transgressions in 2010, including for using office resources to solicit funds for a City College public service program bearing his name.
“Thank you for hosting the event of June 18, 1997. It was a terrific success!” Rangel said in a June 26, 1997, congressional letter to Tobin Tallon of The Tobacco Institute.
“Should we [Democrats] retake control of the House of Representatives, you will not be disappointed with me as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means.”
Ways and Means is the panel that votes on tax and spending policies, including those covering the tobacco industry.
When Dinkins ran for mayor in 1989, Rangel hit up tobacco offiicials for financial support at a Washington fund-raiser.
The Tobacco Institute, the industry’s lobbying arm, sent Dinkins $500.
Internal correspondence at the Tobacco Institute shows a hand-written note, “Sam — Since it is Charlie Rangel I’d suggest $500 corporate [donation for Dinkins].”
Sam Chilcote was the Tobacco Institute president.
Through much of his five-decade career, the 83-year-old congressman opposed raising excise taxes on cigarettes.
The Rangel campaign pointed out that he altered course starting in 2007.
“Congressman Rangel has always fought for the welfare of children, and that’s why in 2007, 2008 and 2009, he proudly voted for a major increase in federal cigarette taxes to ensure that every child in America has access to affordable health care,” said campaign adviser Charlie King, explaining that the revenues went to boost medical care.
Rangel, who is seeking a 23rd term, faces a June 24 Democratic primary challenge from state Sen. Adriano Espaillat and preacher Michael Waldron.