. The legislation provides a 50% tax credit to donors who contribute to qualifying scholarship trusts that are recognized and registered with the Secretary of the Treasury. Fattah served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 192nd district from 1983 to 1988, and as a State Senator for the 7th district from 1988 to 1994. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. And the most recent campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission show Fattah, who makes $174,000 a year in congressional salary, had less than $6,000 in his campaign coffers as of Dec. 31. His son, Chaka Fattah, Jr., is in federal prison after being convicted on charges he funneled government money to himself and defrauded others to pad a luxurious lifestyle. Muroff, the past president of CeaseFire PAwhos taken up gun violence prevention as one of his primary causes, said he wouldnt diminish the importance of a district being represented ona powerful committee with control over spending, but noted that hes the only challenger with experience as a senior level legislative staff member in the federal government. They have one daughter, Chandler Fattah. The reason we must take an educated guess? The only poll conducted so far suggests Evans is in the lead, but theres a caveat: Evans, who didnt respond to a request for comment, paid for that poll. Hes done lots of favors for lots of people, Dilworth said. AOTC provides up to $2500 tax credit for families to assist them with the cost of college. He was ordered to report to prison by Jan. 25, 2017. All rights reserved. or redistributed. The estimated pension is at least $55,000 per year. He even lobbied President Barack Obama on the friends behalf, to no avail. The sale price should just about cover the amount Chaka swiped from the government and nonprofit organizations to repay the illegal $1 million campaign loan that landed him in prison. Property records indicate the house, near the Delaware River north of Milford, has about 2,800 square feet with three bedrooms, 21/2 bathrooms, a fireplace, and a deck. These are the people that have been voting for me and praying for me for all these years.. He publicly supported the Bring Our Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Act a bill that called for bringing the troops home within six months and transitioning the Iraqis to self-government. Theyre both expected to start spending soon on television ads to increase name recognition in the district. Fattah won his first election in 1982 by 58 votes , defeating a party-favored incumbent for the 192nd house seat in the Pennsylvania . 3759) which proposed to have the U.S. Treasury conduct a one-year feasibility study of a 1 percent transaction fee imposed on transactions made at any financial institution. In 1987, Fattah founded the Graduate Opportunity Initiative Conference, an annual three-day informational and scholarship conference which aims to significantly increase the enrollment of under-represented graduate students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM fields). The congressman's wife, NBC10 news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah, was not in the courtroom. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. [Hes]got an incredible social network. So heres whatprosecutors say happened: Fattah and four of his close associates were indicted by federal prosecutors with the Department of Justice in July after they poked around in the congressmans finances for the better part of eight years. NEW JERSEY FEDERAL JUDGES SON KILLED, HUSBAND SHOT AT HOME. Suddenly, the popular broadcaster was a stay-at-home mom with a whole lot of time on her hands and a non-compete clause that sidelined her for a least a year. When you get someone whos invested 10 or 20 years, and theyre in there and bringing resources back, it doesnt really make sense to get rid of them., The congressman has never won less than 85 percent of the vote in the general, and in 2000 he defeateda Libertarian by garnering an unheard-of 98 percent of the vote. He resigned from Congress two days later. But she was less open to talking about her incarcerated husband, former U.S. People got to be real careful about taking out a guy like that, State Sen. Vincent Hughes, a longtime Fattah supporter, Congress works off seniority. "I had talked to a coworker this past summer, but would much rather it be in your possession," she wrote, according to the indictment. Fattah, a Democrat formerly representing Pennsylvanias second congressional district, was found guilty in June 2016. Chaka Fattah was born Arthur Davenport on November 21, 1956 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Arthur Davenport and Frances Brown. But the icing on this crooked cake is that Fattah is collecting a taxpayer-funded pension. Fattah has 22 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and another 12 in public service to rattle off when anyone asks why hes running for re-election to represent the second congressional district for a 12th term. Theyre kind of dealing with the position, Fattah said. Sure, Fattahis still a member of several subcommittees that handle appropriations. He says at least 25 million people have been impacted by his programs (there are 715,000 people in hisdistrict, 1.5 million in Philadelphiaand 12.8 million in the state), and that there isnt a single person in the citywho has not been touched in some significant, positive way by something he put in place. With that said, endorsements can sometimes help win elections. It's the former home of Congressman Chaka Fattah and his wife Renee Chenault-Fattah, a. Committed to fair housing. After being sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 23-count conviction for racketeering, fraud and other corruption charges, disgraced former Congressman Chaka Fattah was released from prison last July after about one year. Former Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah (Pa.) was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday by a federal judge in Philadelphia. Wisely, Chenault-Fattah, now 60, decided to stick to what she's known for, which is telling stories. Updated at 3:25 p.m. The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com. In 2012, Fattah negotiated a partnership between FIRST and Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide robotics programs to 4 million youth by 2015. When former WCAU-TV co-anchor Renee Chenault wedded former Congressman Chaka Fattah in 2001, the Daily News proclaimed theirs the marriage of a century. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Fattah was challenged by Republican nominee Robert Allen Mansfield, Jr. and Independent candidate and publisher of the Germantown Newspapers, Jim Foster. President Obama has called for making the tax credit permanent. Despite the successes, the connections, the seniority and the support, hes a careerpolitician whos nearly out of campaign funds and who couldnt pay the lawyers defending him on charges of using public money and charity dollars to further his political career and line the pockets of hisassociates. The Congressman has an older son, Chaka Fattah, Jr., also a politician, who was convicted of felony bank and tax fraud in February 2016. First published on December 12, 2016 / 12:36 PM. His wife, Philadelphia TV news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah, took a leave after her husband's indictment and then quit in February. The couple has already cleared out of the place for their new digs Chaka at a minimum-security Federal prison camp in western Pennsylvania for the next 10 years, Renee at an undisclosed location but they left it in mint condition and move-in ready. Anecdotally, from what Ive seen, I wouldnt count him as the most popular of Philadelphia politicians., Retired Councilwoman Marian Tasco didnt mince words in 2006 when Fattah was in the process of running for mayor. That is not going to be the big deal of whatever is said about me, he says, pausing to point at the 22 articles that lay out his political accomplishments. They dont even have to believe in me. One man standing outside a barbershopon Lancaster Avenue put it this way: We keep supporting these people, keep electing them, but they always end up doing dumb shit.Many are concerned Fattah is just another in a long line of political figures exposed of beinginvolved in shady dealings. The prize? His son, Chaka Fattah Jr. is serving a five-year prison term in an overlapping fraud case that went to trial last year. He is from . A lawyer before she became a journalist, Chenault-Fattah is said to earn a substantial salary from NBC10. On June 21, 2016, Fattah was convicted of all charges, including racketeering conspiracy, bribery, bank fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a financial institution, and falsification of records. Bartle ordered Fattah to pay . At 66 years old, Chaka Fattah height not available right now. Fattahs wife, Renee Chenault-Fattah, was implicated in the indictment against the congressman and nolonger sits at the anchor deskat NBC 10 where she worked for nearly 25years. Fattah supporters have raised questions about whether he received a fair trial, noting that one of the jurors was dismissed from the case. Ironically, Fattah says that one day he hopes his legacy in Philadelphia is not about his success at the polls or the elections hes won or even about his prominence in the Washington Democratic establishment, but rather, he says, about what hes done for his constituents and for the country. Who Is Chaka Fattah's Wife? But this is only part of the story. Vederman wrote back to Fattah, "love to purchase" the car, according to the indictment, and later wired $18,000 to Fattah. Chaka Fattah's income source is mostly from being a successful . They include former Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Herbert Vederman, of Palm Springs, Florida, who had sought the ambassadorship. All the while he did it with his own little West Philadelphia political machine, with the support ofpeople like Hughes and Councilwoman Cindy Bass. To cement the transaction, Fattah provided a bank a copy of a bill of sale for the vehicle, the indictment says, which Chenault-Fattah had signed as the seller. The jury convicted him of leading a five-person racketeering enterprise that included the loyal aides and political consultants who did his bidding, comingling campaign, nonprofit and government funds and using them as directed for Fattahs personal and political needs. They say Fattah and his allies ran not one, but several schemes, that misappropriated funds and helped him further his own political and financial interests. , money, salary, income, and assets. With other women, he is the father of another daughter, Frances ("Fran"), and one son, Chaka Fattah Jr., known as "Chip", who was convicted of felony bank and tax fraud in February 2016. By Fattahs own assessment, he could soonhold the purse strings of a nation in his hands. The Republican party may have won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, but a seat was still found for a liberal named Chaka Fattah.The freshman Democratic congressman from Philadelphia is a lawmaker who has .