Rangel asks ethics panel to launch a probe of himself

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday followed through on his promise to file an ethics complaint against himself, but he also offered a vigorous defense of his effort to solicit support for a New York City educational center bearing his name.

The powerful Ways and Means Committee chairman acknowledged in a letter to the House ethics committee that he sent out more than 100 letters, using congressional letterhead, that asked leaders of charitable foundations, companies and business leaders to support the City College of New York (CCNY).

{mosads}A top Rangel aide hand-delivered a four-page letter with a five-page addendum to the ethics panel late Wednesday morning. In it, the lawmaker asked the panel to determine whether he had “inadvertently failed to comply with the House Ethics Rules regarding the use of congressional letterhead.”

Rangel continued to drive home his argument that none of the letters asked specifically for financial contributions.

“They all sought meetings to encourage a ‘dialogue’ and discussions concerning this project with leaders of CCNY, including President Gregory Williams, and to provide additional information about my vision for the Center,” he wrote.

He did concede, however, that the goal of any meetings he helped convene would result in financial donations to the Charles Rangel Center for Public Service at CCNY.

“Was my hope that these meetings would result in making financial donations to this important project with such an important public purpose?” he asked. “Of course.”

Rangel requested the committee’s “most comprehensive review and expeditious reply” to his request for a decision. If the committee finds him in violation, he wrote that he would trust and accepts its findings.

House rules require the ethics committee to initiate an investigation if a sitting House member files a formal complaint with the panel.

Rangel’s letter may be an attempt to control the spin before an ethics committee vote against him. The panel is scheduled to meet Thursday and leaders on both sides of the aisle expect it to launch a probe into the ethics questions swirling around Rangel.

The lawmaker said he sent 100 letters on his congressional stationery in June 2005. The following July, he followed up with approximately 47 letters to a portion of the original mailing. Last year in March, he wrote, he sent three additional letters to longstanding friends “who are committed to philanthropy.”

The letter to the ethics panel included an example from each mailing.

“There has never been, is not, and never would be any personal financial gain to me or my family from the successful completion of the Center,” he maintained.

The goal of the center is to help the college attract more students from diverse racial and economic backgrounds to careers in public service. It would also serve as a vault for Rangel’s congressional and state legislative papers over the last past 40 years and provide an office for Rangel’s use after he retires. This, some ethics experts have argued, would constitute a “financial gain.”

The Ways and Means panel chairman also stressed that none of the people, businesses or foundations he wrote to had any “pending requests into my office, lobbied me regarding legislation before my committee, or asked me for assistance on legislation in which they had a special interest.”

Last week, the lawmaker held an angry press conference in which he attacked The Washington Post, which had broken the news of Rangel’s efforts on behalf of the center.