Posted on 11/16/2010 10:08:01 AM PST by BradtotheBone
A House ethics panel has convicted Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) on 11 of 13 counts of violating House ethics rules.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the adjudicatory subcommittee and the full House ethics committee, announced the decision late Tuesday morning following an abbreviated public trial of the 20-term lawmaker and less than a day of closed-door deliberations.
"We have tried to act with fairness, led only by the facts and the law," Lofgren said. "We believe we have accomplished that mission."
The panel will recommend a punishment, then the full ethics panel will have to convene a sanctions hearing to decide whether to agree to the recommended punishment or determine another one. Serious sanctions including formal reprimand, censure or expulsion require a vote on the House floor. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote, while a reprimand, which Rangel refused to agree to in July, or a censure would need just a simple majority.
The decision comes one day after the panel rejected an emotional plea by Rangel to delay the trial because he lacked counsel. Rangels team of attorneys told him they could no longer represent him in mid-October, and Rangel said he could not afford to hire a replacement right away after incurring nearly $2 million in legal fees over the past two years.
The 13 counts stem from several House ethics violations, including improperly using his office to solicit donations for a school of public policy in his name at the City College of New York, using a residential apartment in Harlem for his campaign office, failing to report more than $600,000 on his financial disclosure report and failing to pay taxes on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Failing to report income? Illegally using campaign office/funds? I’m shocked. Shocked I tell ya’. I thought democrats promised transparency and “the most ethical” party in history. Hope and Change = Lies and Corruption.
While I’m rather surprised that a Democrat-led ethics panel found Rangel guilty on at least some of the counts, I have a hunch that they will not take any serious disciplinary action against him.
Wow, they sure got that out of the way of the headlines fast. I’m sure he will be admonished and told never to do it again and that will be that. The only question I have is why is he stupid enough to spend $2million in legal fees when the punishment is a slap on the wrist. Even if were the most harsh sentence of expulsion, big deal, he’s 80 years old and can live out the rest of his days enjoying all of the money he’s stolen over the past 40 years.
They're going say he was a bad boy. (Ooooo. They're going to "deplore" his actions.) No talk of expulsion (ala Packwood). Meanwhile citizens determined to have fraudulently avoided taxes get to cool their heels in the slammer.
ML/NJ
Slap-on-the-wrist time now.
20 terms, its easy to see how this nation is going to hell in a hand basket.
It’s the abject imbeciles that keep electing this crook who are mostly to blame
They’re going say he was a bad boy. (Ooooo. They’re going to “deplore” his actions.) No talk of expulsion (ala Packwood). Meanwhile citizens determined to have fraudulently avoided taxes get to cool their heels in the slammer.
One down, about 254 more to go.
There will be no agreement to expel him which leaves censure which means absolutely nothing.
“The only question I have is why is he stupid enough to spend $2million in legal fees when the punishment is a slap on the wrist.”
Probably because none of that was really his anyway.
Doggone you! I was going to post that!
In Rangel's district the voters are uniformly well below average.
The GOP should delay this until after the new Congress is seated and then demand expulsion.
He’ll get 11 swats on the behind. That’s all. Dems are in charge. They won’t punish to any real degree at all.
“The average American voter is as dumb as a turkey dropping.”
And less useful.
He will say “I am sorry” and that will be the end of it. The left will tout him as a hero.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.