House ethics committee votes to censure Rep. Rangel

House ethics committee votes to censure Rep. Rangel

2010-11-19 06:43:26 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The House ethics committee on Thursday voted 9 to 1 to recommend to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, who was found guilty on multiple counts of ethics violation last Tuesday.

Rangel would also be required to pay restitution for his unpaid taxes. On early Wednesday, the House ethics committee's counsel Blake Chisam recommended the panel to censor Rangel, a stronger punishment than a reprimand but well short of expulsion.

The House ethics committee, consisting of five Republicans and five Democrats, went into a closed doors deliberation on the punishment for Rangel's violations. The deliberation lasted about four hours.

Earlier, Rep. Rangel appeared before the committee to defend himself. He admitted wrongdoing as well as irresponsible behavior in relation to the House rules but he denied being corrupt or did not seek personal gain.

"There can be no excuse for my acts of omission," Rangel said. "I've failed in carrying out my responsibilities. I made numerous mistakes. But corruption and personal enrichment are certainly not part of my mistakes."

Rangel, 80, was found guilty by a special eight-member panel for violating House ethics on 11 of the 13 charges. The panel found the evidence clear and convincing after a two-year investigation by the House ethics committee into his personal finances.

Rangel was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970 to represent Harlem, New York. He was forced to step down this past March as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee because of the accusations against him.

The U.S. Representative was formally charged in July, and after resisting calls to leave Congress, won re-election this month. The charges against him included misuse of his office in fundraising for a college center named after him, the establishment of a campaign office in a subsidized N.Y. apartment and the failure to pay taxes for 17 years on rental income from a beach villa in the Dominican Republic.

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