Ethics Committee deliberates Rangel punishment
By: Nancy Cook
Updated: November 18, 2010
House ethics committee chief counsel Blake Chisam this morning recommended that the U.S. House of Representatives censure U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel. Tuesday, Rangel was convicted on 11 counts of violating House rules.
Rangel was convicted of misusing his office in fundraising for a college center named after him, setting up a campaign office in a subsidized, residential-only apartment unit, made public a decade of misleading financial statements and failed to pay taxes for 17 years on rental income from a beach villa.
Chisam went to great lengths to outline the charges on which Rangel was convicted, described each possible punishment and outlined the number of times, and in some cases to whom, those punishments have been applied.
Rangel’s testimony basically was that he didn’t know he was breaking the law, and that he did not benefit personally from his misdeeds.
The 10-member House ethics committee, made up of five Democrats and five Republicans, will decide what to suggest to the full House of Representatives.
