Skeptic Project

The ethics committee has found that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) violated congressional ethics rules.

The committee ruled that Rangel was guilty on 11 counts. Rangel had been accused of 13 violations. On one, the committee was deadlocked. The committee dismissed another charge, rolling it into one of the others.

The subcommittee that found the violations will now forward the convictions to the full ethics committee. The full committee will then hold another hearing, during which it will vote on whether to recommend a punishment for Rangel. If they do, they will send that recommendation -- be it admonishment, censuring, expulsion or otherwise -- to the full House for a vote.

Rangel left his hearing yesterday after the committee denied his request to delay the hearing until he hired legal counsel. Rangel claimed it was the committee's fault that he had no lawyers, and accused it of violating his due process rights.

The violations stem from four different actions: Rangel used official Congressional resources to raise funds for an educational center in his name; he failed to report taxable income on a rental villa in the Dominican Republic; he filed inaccurate financial disclosure forms; and he used a rent-controlled apartment in Harlem as a campaign office.

The committee decided yesterday that there were no questions as to the facts of the case. Rangel himself has admitted as much. In a speech on the House floor this summer, Rangel said he may have been "stupid" and "negligent," but that he was never "corrupt."

The one violation which deadlocked the committee was about accepting illegal gifts. The investigation subcommittee that compiled the charges said the contributions to Rangel's educational center at CCNY constituted indirect gifts to Rangel.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/ethics_panel_finds_rangel_guilty_of_11_ethics_viol.php?ref=fpa