4 Others Exonerated

Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 34-year veteran of Capitol Hill, knowingly accepted Caribbean trips from a corporation in violation of House rules, the House Ethics Committee ruled Thursday, The Associated Press has learned.

The committee found that the financing of the Caribbean trips was improper for all the lawmakers involved but that only Rangel was aware that a corporation that routinely lobbied Congress picked up the tab, said the congressional official who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Representatives Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Donald Payne (D-NJ), Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Delagate Donna Christensen (D-V.I.) also participated in the trips, but a source told the Associated Press that they have been exonerated by the committee.

Rangel said Thursday night that he was being “admonished” by the committee on the grounds that at least two members of his staff knew about the corporate funding for the trips and that Rangel himself should have known.

“I’m satisfied that when you read the report, that you will see that I have not been found guilty of anything,” Rangel said. “We were approved, the trip was approved. Whether or not it should have been approved is a serious issue.”

Conference Chair Mike Pence (R-IN) used the reports to renew his call for Rangel to step aside as Ways and Means chair.  "I believe it would be appropriate for him to step aside as chair until these matters are resolved," Pence said, noting that "these are not the only ethical clouds hanging over his chairmanship."

The committee is continuing to investigate several other matters involving Rangel, including one involving his use of a rent-controlled apartment in New York and another involving allegations that he used his congressional office to raise funds for a New York research center that bears his name.

Rangel's ethics troubles also present an election-year dilemma for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led a Democratic takeover of the House in 2006 on a campaign promise to end a "culture of corruption" in the GOP-led Congress.  If Pelosi has any ethics she will make Rangel step down.  It’s time she lives up to the words to end the “culture of corruption.”

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