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. Rangel’s team of attorneys told him they could no longer represent him in mid-October, and Rangel said he could not afford to hire a replacement right away after incurring nearly $2 million in legal fees over the past two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 ...
FINALLY!
So, what is his punishment?
Will he have to PAY ANYTHING back or just resign?
They should throw his sorry arse in PRISON for a LONG TIME.
Probably neither. If we are lucky, we might get a grief apology.
ML/NJ
No, he won’t even say that.
He will, however, walk away a wealthy man who will be set for the rest of his life with perks, pension, benefits and ill-gotten-gains.
What else is freaking new?
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