A House ethics panel has found that Representative Charles B.Rangel committed multiple ethical violations. He had been accused of bringing dishonor to Congress by accepting rent-stabilized apartments from a Manhattan developer, failing to pay taxes on a rental income from his Dominican villa and raising charitable donations from companies and corporate executives who had business before the committee he led.
A House ethics panel has convicted Representative Charles B. Rangel of 12 of the 13 ethics violations he faced, ranging from accepting rent-stabilized apartments from a Manhattan developer to failing to pay taxes on a rental income from his Dominican villa to raising charitable donations from companies and corporate executives who had business before the committee he led.
The convictions cast a cloud over the half-century political career of Mr. Rangel, an 80-year-old Democrat who was recently reelected to a 21st term representing Harlem and who was the longtime head of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, chairwoman of the adjudicatory subcommittee of the House ethics committee, announced the subcommittee’s verdicts Tuesday morning just before noon. The matter now goes to the full House committee for action.
Ethics experts say the committee is likely to issue Mr. Rangel only a letter of reprimand or a formal censure. While the committee has the power to expel, that has happened only rarely and is considered highly unlikely.
