Ethics panel launches Rangel probe

After months of Rep. Charles Rangel asking the ethics committee to investigate him, the panel Wednesday launched a formal probe into the multiple allegations piled up around the powerful New York Democrat.

The committee voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to conduct an inquiry, a significant step indicating that the panel’s members believe the allegations are complex, serious or both.

{mosads}The committee met Wednesday afternoon to consider how to respond to the charges. Afterward, it issued a release listing items the inquiry will address, including $75,000 in undisclosed rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic and a no-interest loan involved in the deal; his use of four rent-stabilized apartments in New York City; and alleged misuse of congressional stationery for fundraising letters for an education center bearing his name.

Rangel has sent the committee three different letters asking for it to “review” the allegations against him. Early last week, The New York Times joined Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) in calling for Rangel to step down from his chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means panel while the ethics committee conducts its investigation.

The ethics panel’s release also said the investigation would look into Rangel’s compliance with Committee on House Administration regarding storage of one of his cars. The New York Post last week reported that Rangel used the House garage to store an old Mercedes-Benz, an apparent violation of House rules barring the use of the space for storing cars more than 45 days.

Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas), the acting chairman of the ethics committee, and Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), its ranking member, will head up the investigative subcommittee’s work.

The other two members of the subcommittee are Reps. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.).

Last week, Hastings complained that the committee was dragging its feet in investigating Rangel. He said at the time that he would push for the establishment of an investigative subcommittee as well as the retention of a special counsel to staff it. The release did not mention whether the committee would appoint a special counsel.

At press time, Rangel issued a statement saying he would no longer comment on the investigation until the panel’s work is completed.

House GOP leaders tried to hammer home the message that the ethics committee wasn’t doing its job by offering a resolution that would have stripped Rangel of his gavel while the ethics panel investigated the charges. It also would have ordered the panel to establish an investigative subcommittee to look into the matter. The motion was defeated last week, 226-176, with only the five Democrats on the ethics panel voting “present” and eight Democrats not voting.

Only five Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats on the measure, far fewer than the 25 who voted with Democrats in late July to jettison another Boehner motion that would have censured the powerful chairman. Last week Boehner warned his colleagues that their committee assignments could be jeopardized if they vote against leadership on motions to open debate on ethics matters.

Only one GOP member of the Ways and Means panel, retiring Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), voted with Democrats on the latest ethics resolution. Seven GOP Ways and Means members voted with Democrats and against their leaders to table the July resolution to censure Rangel.

Ramstad said he would vote with Democrats again regardless of whether he was staying in Congress.

“I think it’s wrong to punish before a person is charged, tried and convicted,” he said. “To somehow tie [ethics votes] to committee assignments is ludicrous.”

Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), a member of the Ways and Means panel, said his decision to vote to with Republicans last week had nothing to do with Boehner’s admonition.

“On the first resolution, the only point of discussion was a New York Times article,” he said, “and since then there have been other allegations that I think the ethics committee needs to investigate.”

Rep. Wally Herger (R-Calif.) agreed and said Boehner’s threat was “not on my mind” when he voted with Republicans last week, after voting with Democrats back in July.

“The minority leader has to do what he has do,” he said. “It’s not a pleasant time. No one likes to see a situation like this.”

Others Ways and Means Committee members, such as Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), a scrappy member of the leadership team, voted with Boehner and against Rangel on both ethics resolutions.

In fact, Cantor tried to knock down a Rangel earmark for New York zone tax credits in last week’s energy bill that would be used to build a rail line from downtown Manhattan to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Republicans said Rangel flouted Democratic earmark disclosure rules because the provision was tucked into the energy bill late in the game.

Cantor said he is not concerned about possible retribution from Rangel.

“Charlie’s going through a difficult time,” Cantor said. “The ethics committee is not working right now … and that is one of the reasons why the American people are so frustrated with Congress. Talk of retribution is not what the public wants to hear.”

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), a senior member of Ways and Means, said he didn’t think Rangel would hold ethics votes against GOP members of the panel.

“He knows whose arms were twisted,” Meeks said. “He’s always worked the committee without any threat of retribution.”