The bi-partisan Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (known better as the House Ethics Committee) has over the last several months investigated serious allegations of misconduct against U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York. Their report released yesterday is damning:
In the 40-page report, the committee said it substantiated the major charges that had been hanging over Mr. Rangel for two years: that he improperly used his office to solicit donations for a school to be named in his honor; failed to pay taxes on and report rental income from his Dominican villa; filed incomplete financial disclosure forms; and improperly accepted from a Manhattan developer rent-stabilized apartments, one of which he used as a campaign office.But while those alleged infractions had been widely reported, the committee unearthed new details about Mr. Rangel’s conduct. The committee said Mr. Rangel not only reached out to corporate executives seeking contributions to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College, but he also personally sought donations from registered lobbyists whose corporations had business before Congress. In some cases, Mr. Rangel asked for contributions of as much as $30 million from businesses with issues before the Ways and Means Committee, of which he was the chairman until March.“Reasonable persons could construe contributions to the Rangel Center by persons with interests before the Ways and Means Committee as influencing the performance of Respondent’s governmental duties,” the report stated, saying it violated the Congressional Code of Ethics.In addition, Mr. Rangel, when he secured a rent-stabilized apartment for his campaign operation at the Lenox Terrace development in Harlem, signed an application saying that the apartment would be the primary residence for his son, Steven Rangel, and not be used for business purposes, the report said. Steven Rangel never lived in the apartment, and the committee said the developer, the Olnick Organization, included Mr. Rangel on a “special handling list,” apparently for V.I.P.’s, and did not take action against him even as it cracked down on other tenants whose apartments were not being used as primary residences.The report suggested that, after 20 terms in Congress, Mr. Rangel had come to rely on his government-paid staff for activities unrelated to his Congressional work.
Click here to read the full story from The New York Times.
This is no partisan witch hunt against Rep. Rangel. The committee is made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats.
The matter will now go before the House for a rare trial. It shouldn't go that far.
Rep. Rangel should do the honorable thing and resign his office. He has already brought enough discredit on the House. My impression has always been that Rep. Rangel cared deeply for the people of his district and the nation. He can prove that one last time by leaving office so that the House can focus on the business of the nation and not the life and crimes of Charlie Rangel.
