His campaign might be tweeting about his upcoming 80th birthday bash, but the two most recent fundraisers held by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., were much less publicized affairs held at C2 Group, a well-connected D.C. firm that lobbies on tax issues and represents organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Rifle Association, Party Time records show.

Unless he strikes a deal with the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, Rangel, who temporarily stepped down from his chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, would face a public trial for alleged ethics violations.

C2 Group is largely made up of former GOP staffers in the legislative and executive branches. Its founding partner, John Cline, worked in the George H.W. Bush Administration, while Nelson Litterst and Becky Halkias worked in the George W. Bush Administration, according to its website.

Another partner, Hunter Bates, is a former chief of staff to Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Ky., and the firm’s director of federal affairs, Leslie Elliott, is a former McConnell hand.

Both the Mar. 16 and Mar. 25 parties (the only ones in Party Time records this year) were titled “Friends of New York Breakfast.” PACs could chair the events if they donated $5,000 to Rangel’s campaign. They could host it for $2,500 while individuals could do so for $2,000.

A call to the C2 group asking if any partners have lobbied Rangel was not returned, but the website touts a handful of lobbyists as specialists in dealing with Democrats. The site also points to dealing with the Ways and Means Committee, which Rangel presided over from 2007 until stepping aside earlier this year.

C2 Founder Tom Crawford is called the group’s Blue Dog Coalition specialist on its website. Crawford “has worked on every tax measure and budget reconcilation package considered by Congress during the past twenty years,” according to the website.

The charges against Rangel haven’t been made public yet but they reportedly include that he preserved a tax loophole for an oil company whose executive pledged to donate to a center named after Rangel at the City University of New York. Rangel’s dealings with insurance giant A.I.G. also got attention; Rangel solicited funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service from A.I.G. executives, who weeks later asked for help getting a tax benefit.

C2 group’s point man for health care reform to the Ways and Means Committee is Michael Hanson, a former chief of staff to Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Tex., according to the C2 website.

C2 touts the Democratic credentials of three lobbyists: Jeff Murray, Patrick Robertson and Becky Halkias. Murray was the executive director of the Blue Dog Coalition as the chief of staff to its chairman, Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Ala. and a former top officer at the American Gas Association. Robertson was a staffer for Jay Rockefeller, R-W.V., for many years, where he worked on tax issues. The firm also notes that Halkias, a former aide to DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, has worked closely with Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office.

Raul Tapia, a former Carter Administration official, is the group’s liaison to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, according to his profile on the firm’s website.

The group’s clients include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, which advocates for tort reform and against trial lawyers’ “excessive influence.” C2 also lobbies for the National Rifle Association, Comcast, and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the cable industry’s main trade group. Homes for America Alliance, a coalition of home building and housing companies, was C2’s biggest client in 2009.

Rangel’s Birthday Fundraiser Still Planned

Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg speculating otherwise, Rangel’s Aug. 11 80th Birthday Gala is still on, the Rangel campaign told Party Time.

“The fundraiser is on and we continue with the campaign,” press secretary Bob Liff told Party Time.

The campaign even promoted the event on Twitter today, sending a tweet inviting people to come and linking to a YouTube video promoting the event. The video includes birthday wishes from President Bill Clinton, and footage from a prior birthday fundraiser, where Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and New York politicians praise the Harlem politician. Supporters can RSVP to the event on the campaign’s website.

The invitation, obtained by the New York Post, lists Gov. David Patterson as master of ceremonies and other hosts include Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Aretha Franklin is set to perform at the Plaza Hotel.

Getting on the Rangel Birthday Gala Committee list costs between $200 and $5,000. Liff said he did not have a head count yet.

“These things usually come together late,” he said.

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