- 11/18/10 03:07 PM ET
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) became emotional during an afternoon session before the ethics panel.
Wiping away tears, he stood to again stress that he did not act for personal gain and to apologize to the committee for any awkwardness or embarrassment he may have caused.
"I don't know how much longer I have to live, but it will always be to try to help people," Rangel said with a voice more gravelly than usual.
The congressman asked that members of the committee, no matter what sanction they decide to recommend, refrain from calling him a corrupt individual.
"Thank you for this awkward opportunity to express myself," he concluded.
Rangel spoke after Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the panel, asked him to offer his words.
The House ethics committee's chief counsel recommended Thursday that Rangel be formally censured by the full House for violating 11 House ethics rules.
Short of expulsion, censure is the most serious sanction the ethics panel can recommend. A majority of the full House would have to vote to censure Rangel should the ethics committee officially recommend that punishment.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) spoke in Rangel's defense in the morning session. The committee is in executive session to consider what punishment to recommend.
The vote against censure probably came from Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., a former member of his state's Supreme Court. He said before deliberations that he believed the facts merited a reprimand. A less serious punishment, a reprimand requires a House vote but no oral rebuke.
It's unclear how much Rangel owes in taxes. An ethics committee document indicated he owed $16,775 as of 1990, but Rangel has paid some of his back taxes.
The ethics committee's chief counsel, Blake Chisam, had recommended censure for Rangel. The ethics committee could have opted for a lighter punishment, such as a reprimand, a fine or a report deploring the congressman's behavior. Chisam, responding to questions from committee members, said he personally believed that Rangel's conduct did not amount to corruption.
Rangel, 80, ended the sanctions hearing with an emotional plea to salvage his reputation. Before speaking, he sat for several minutes trying to compose himself. He placed his hands over his eyes and then his chin before he slowly stood up and said in a gravelly voice that was barely audible, "I don't know how much longer I have to live."
Shawn Thew / EPA
Facing the committee members, he asked them to "see your way clear to say, 'This member was not corrupt.'"
He continued: "There's no excuse for my behavior and no intent to go beyond what has been given to me as a salary. I apologize for any embarrassment I've caused you individually and collectively as a member of the greatest institution in the world."
In the most dramatic clash of the proceeding, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, questioned the assertion of Rangel — the former chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee — that he wasn't corrupt.
"Failure to pay taxes for 17 years. What is that?" McCaul asked, referring to Rangel's shortchanging the Internal Revenue Service on rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic.
McCaul also noted the committee's finding that Rangel solicited donors for the Charles B. Rangel Center at City College of New York from donors who had business before the Ways and Means Committee. The charges
After an investigation that began in summer 2008, Rangel was convicted Tuesday by a jury of his House peers on 11 of 13 charges of rules violations.
He was found to have improperly used official resources — congressional letterheads and staff — to raise funds from businesses and foundations for the Rangel Center. A brochure with some of Rangel's solicitation letters asked for $30 million, or $6 million a year for five years.
He also was found guilty of filing a decade's worth of misleading annual financial disclosure forms that failed to list hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, and failure to pay taxes on his Dominican unit.
Chisam said donations to the Rangel Center were going poorly, then spiked after Rangel rose to the top of the Ways and Means Committee. He noted the center would benefit minority students and asked, "What kind of example is that of what public service ought to be?"
Chisam asked what a neighbor of Rangel would think after she was evicted from her apartment in Harlem's Lennox Terrace for violating terms of her lease — and then learning Rangel was allowed to convert a residential-only unit into a campaign office. Others were evicted for similar offenses, the committee found.
"How would that influence her faith in government?" Chisam asked.
And Chisam asked how a waitress struggling to pay her taxes on income and tips would feel about Rangel not paying taxes on rental money from his vacation villa.
'A good and decent man'
Rangel brought in Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to give a testimonial for the congressman. Lewis called his colleague "a good and decent man" and said Rangel had worked tirelessly to advance civil rights.
Before Chisam began his remarks, Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., told committee colleagues that Rangel needed only to "look in the mirror to know who to blame" for his predicament.
The ethics committee's work didn't finish with the Rangel case. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 29 to consider charges that Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., improperly used her influence to get federal financial assistance for a bank in which her husband was an investor. Waters has denied the allegations and promised to mount a vigorous defense.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Veteran Congressman Charles Rangel tearfully defended himself Thursday as a House ethics panel prepared to punish him. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.
Wiping away tears, he stood to again stress that he did not act for personal gain and to apologize to the committee for any awkwardness or embarrassment he may have caused.
"I don't know how much longer I have to live, but it will always be to try to help people," Rangel said with a voice more gravelly than usual.
The congressman asked that members of the committee, no matter what sanction they decide to recommend, refrain from calling him a corrupt individual.
"Thank you for this awkward opportunity to express myself," he concluded.
Rangel spoke after Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the panel, asked him to offer his words.
The House ethics committee's chief counsel recommended Thursday that Rangel be formally censured by the full House for violating 11 House ethics rules.
Short of expulsion, censure is the most serious sanction the ethics panel can recommend. A majority of the full House would have to vote to censure Rangel should the ethics committee officially recommend that punishment.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) spoke in Rangel's defense in the morning session. The committee is in executive session to consider what punishment to recommend.
Rangel gets emotional in speech before ethics panel
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. appears before the House Ethics Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday.
- 11/18/10 03:07 PM ET
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) became emotional during an afternoon session before the ethics panel.
Wiping away tears, he stood to again stress that he did not act for personal gain and to apologize to the committee for any awkwardness or embarrassment he may have caused.
"I don't know how much longer I have to live, but it will always be to try to help people," Rangel said with a voice more gravelly than usual.
The congressman asked that members of the committee, no matter what sanction they decide to recommend, refrain from calling him a corrupt individual.
"Thank you for this awkward opportunity to express myself," he concluded.
Rangel spoke after Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the panel, asked him to offer his words.
The House ethics committee's chief counsel recommended Thursday that Rangel be formally censured by the full House for violating 11 House ethics rules.
Short of expulsion, censure is the most serious sanction the ethics panel can recommend. A majority of the full House would have to vote to censure Rangel should the ethics committee officially recommend that punishment.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) spoke in Rangel's defense in the morning session. The committee is in executive session to consider what punishment to recommend.Wiping away tears, he stood to again stress that he did not act for personal gain and to apologize to the committee for any awkwardness or embarrassment he may have caused.
"I don't know how much longer I have to live, but it will always be to try to help people," Rangel said with a voice more gravelly than usual.
The congressman asked that members of the committee, no matter what sanction they decide to recommend, refrain from calling him a corrupt individual.
"Thank you for this awkward opportunity to express myself," he concluded.
Rangel spoke after Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the panel, asked him to offer his words.
The House ethics committee's chief counsel recommended Thursday that Rangel be formally censured by the full House for violating 11 House ethics rules.
Short of expulsion, censure is the most serious sanction the ethics panel can recommend. A majority of the full House would have to vote to censure Rangel should the ethics committee officially recommend that punishment.
The vote against censure probably came from Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., a former member of his state's Supreme Court. He said before deliberations that he believed the facts merited a reprimand. A less serious punishment, a reprimand requires a House vote but no oral rebuke.
It's unclear how much Rangel owes in taxes. An ethics committee document indicated he owed $16,775 as of 1990, but Rangel has paid some of his back taxes.
The ethics committee's chief counsel, Blake Chisam, had recommended censure for Rangel. The ethics committee could have opted for a lighter punishment, such as a reprimand, a fine or a report deploring the congressman's behavior. Chisam, responding to questions from committee members, said he personally believed that Rangel's conduct did not amount to corruption.
Rangel, 80, ended the sanctions hearing with an emotional plea to salvage his reputation. Before speaking, he sat for several minutes trying to compose himself. He placed his hands over his eyes and then his chin before he slowly stood up and said in a gravelly voice that was barely audible, "I don't know how much longer I have to live."
Rep. Charles Rangel waits for his hearing before the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Facing the committee members, he asked them to "see your way clear to say, 'This member was not corrupt.'"
He continued: "There's no excuse for my behavior and no intent to go beyond what has been given to me as a salary. I apologize for any embarrassment I've caused you individually and collectively as a member of the greatest institution in the world."
In the most dramatic clash of the proceeding, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, questioned the assertion of Rangel — the former chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee — that he wasn't corrupt.
"Failure to pay taxes for 17 years. What is that?" McCaul asked, referring to Rangel's shortchanging the Internal Revenue Service on rental income from his villa in the Dominican Republic.
McCaul also noted the committee's finding that Rangel solicited donors for the Charles B. Rangel Center at City College of New York from donors who had business before the Ways and Means Committee. The charges
After an investigation that began in summer 2008, Rangel was convicted Tuesday by a jury of his House peers on 11 of 13 charges of rules violations.
He was found to have improperly used official resources — congressional letterheads and staff — to raise funds from businesses and foundations for the Rangel Center. A brochure with some of Rangel's solicitation letters asked for $30 million, or $6 million a year for five years.
He also was found guilty of filing a decade's worth of misleading annual financial disclosure forms that failed to list hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, and failure to pay taxes on his Dominican unit.
Chisam said donations to the Rangel Center were going poorly, then spiked after Rangel rose to the top of the Ways and Means Committee. He noted the center would benefit minority students and asked, "What kind of example is that of what public service ought to be?"
Chisam asked what a neighbor of Rangel would think after she was evicted from her apartment in Harlem's Lennox Terrace for violating terms of her lease — and then learning Rangel was allowed to convert a residential-only unit into a campaign office. Others were evicted for similar offenses, the committee found.
"How would that influence her faith in government?" Chisam asked.
And Chisam asked how a waitress struggling to pay her taxes on income and tips would feel about Rangel not paying taxes on rental money from his vacation villa.
'A good and decent man'
Rangel brought in Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., to give a testimonial for the congressman. Lewis called his colleague "a good and decent man" and said Rangel had worked tirelessly to advance civil rights.
Before Chisam began his remarks, Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., told committee colleagues that Rangel needed only to "look in the mirror to know who to blame" for his predicament.
The ethics committee's work didn't finish with the Rangel case. A hearing is scheduled Nov. 29 to consider charges that Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., improperly used her influence to get federal financial assistance for a bank in which her husband was an investor. Waters has denied the allegations and promised to mount a vigorous defense.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Veteran Congressman Charles Rangel tearfully defended himself Thursday as a House ethics panel prepared to punish him. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports.
No comments:
Post a Comment