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Rep. Charles Rangel, once one of the most
influential House members, was convicted Tuesday on 11 counts of
breaking ethics rules and now faces punishment. The veteran New
York lawmaker immediately denounced the verdict as unfair.


      An ethics panel of eight House peers deliberated over two days
before delivering a jarring blow to the 20-term New York Democrat's
career. Rangel was charged with 13 counts of financial and
fundraising misconduct.


      The conviction also was another setback for Democrats who lost
control of the House to the GOP in the midterm elections.


      Rangel, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is
not expected to resign. He is 80 years old and remains a dominant
political figure in New York's famed Harlem neighborhood.


      He was forced to step down last March as Ways and Means chairman
when the House ethics committee, in a separate case, admonished him
for taking two Caribbean trips paid for by corporations.


      At his one-day trial on Monday, Rangel was reduced to pleading
for a postponement - arguing that his lawyers abandoned him after
he paid them some $2 million but could afford no more. The panel
rejected his request, and Rangel walked out of the proceeding.


      Rangel reacted bitterly to the conviction.


      "How can anyone have confidence in the decision of the ethics
subcommittee when I was deprived of due process rights, right to
counsel and was not even in the room?" Rangel said in a written
statement. "I can only hope that the full committee will treat me
more fairly, and take into account my entire 40 years of service to
the Congress before making any decisions on sanctions."


      He called the panel's findings "unprecedented" because there
was no rebuttal evidence. He complained that the rejection of his
appeal for more time violated "the basic constitutional right to
counsel."


      Rangel, echoing a statement he made in August in a speech to the
House, added, "any failings in my conduct were the result of
"good faith mistakes" and were caused by "sloppy and careless
recordkeeping, but were not criminal or corrupt."


      New York Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who attended
Rangel's fundraiser in August while campaigning to clean up New
York politics, said, "It's obviously a sad situation to
experience.


      "It's important that people have full faith in the integrity in
public service, so it's painful to watch," Cuomo said Tuesday at a
press event near Rochester. "But we'll see what happens at the end
of the process."


      Only last spring, Rangel wielded significant power in the House
from his position as the main writer of tax legislation. He was not
present Tuesday when the verdict was announced.


      The full ethics committee will now conduct a hearing on the
appropriate punishment for Rangel, the silver-haired,
gravelly-voiced and sartorially flashy veteran of 20 terms in the
House.


      Possible sanctions include a House vote deploring Rangel's
conduct, a fine and denial of privileges.


      The congressional panel, sitting as a jury, found that Rangel
had used House stationery and staff to solicit money for a New York
college center named after him. It also concluded he solicited
donors for the center with interests before the Ways and Means
Committee, leaving the impression the money could influence
official actions.


      He also was found guilty of failing to disclose at least
$600,000 in assets and income in a series of inaccurate reports to
Congress; using a rent-subsidized New York apartment for a campaign
office, when it was designated for residential use; and failure to
report to the IRS rental income from a housing unit in a Dominican
Republic resort.


      The ethics panel split 4-4 on a charge that Rangel violated a
ban on gifts because he was to have an office - and storage of his
papers - at the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City
College of New York.


      Two counts charging him with misuse of Congress' free mail
privilege were merged into one.


      The charges said the solicitation for the Rangel Center targeted
foundations and businesses that were seeking official action from
the House, or had interests that might be substantially affected by
Rangel's congressional conduct.

      However, Rangel was not accused of using his influence to pass
or defeat legislation.


      During Monday's trial proceeding, the chief counsel for the
House ethics committee, Blake Chisam, told the jury that Rangel
could have received permission to solicit nonprofit foundations.
However, he could not have used congressional stationery and staff
as he was found to have done.


      Rangel had previously acknowledged some of the charges,
including submission of 10 years' worth of incomplete and
inaccurate annual statements disclosing his assets and income.


      He also admitted he initially did not report his rental income
from a unit he owned at the Punta Cana resort in the Dominican
Republic.


      An apartment in Harlem's Lennox Terrace complex housed the
Rangel for Congress and National Leadership PAC political
committees, when the lease terms said the unit was designated for
living purposes only.


      Chisam had told the jury that other tenants were evicted at an
increasing rate for violating the same lease terms.

Gallery

Hobbled Dems, eager GOP back for lame-duck session

Politics and Government News

A House ethics panel has found Democratic Rep.
Charles Rangel of New York guilty on 11 counts of breaking House
rules.

House ethics panel: Rep. Rangel violated rules

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