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Politics & The Nation
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010 House censures Rangel for rules violations rangel from A1
spite the censure, he said, he still has not had a bad day since he was nearly killed on the Korean War battlefield 60 years ago. Rangel then marched into a
ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a news conference after the vote, Rep. Charles Rangel said he did not regret asking for the inquiry that led to his censure.
press room in the Capitol Visitor Center and spent 25 minutes exerting the sort of confidence and relief that usually comes from an acquittal. “I leave here knowing that everybody knows I’man honest guy,” he told report-
on
washingtonpost.com The censure of Rep. Charles B. Rangel
IFor a photo gallery showing the longtime Democratic congressman
before, during and after he was censured by the House for 11 rules infractions, go to
washingtonpost.com/politics.
ers. Despite a concerted effort by
supporters to downgrade Ran- gel’s punishment to a reprimand, the House voted 333 to 79 for censure. With 170 Democrats joining all
but two Republicans, the cham- ber approved the condemnation for 11 rules infractions that in- cluded 17 years of unpaid taxes on property in the Dominican Re- public, more than $500,000 in undisclosed financial assets and
inappropriately raising millions of dollars for a New York City college from corporations with business before the Ways and Means Committee. Several dozen of Rangel’s clos-
est friends fell short in their effort to reduce the sanction to a repri- mand, which would not have required the public rebuke by Pelosi. They argued that censure had been reserved for only the most “severe” breaches of public trust. But that amendment fell short, with just 146 votes. The hour-long debate began
shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, with the House chamber nearly full. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House ethics committee — which voted 9 to 1 two weeks ago to recommend censure — told her colleagues that it was Rangel’s “accumula- tion of actions” that tipped the scale toward giving him the more stringent penalty. “We need a higher standard,”
said Lofgren, acting as the lead prosecutor. Earlier in the debate, as Rangel
sat just across the aisle, Lofgren praised his tenure in Congress and his heroism in the Korean War.
But, she said, “that service does
not excuse the fact that Represen- tative Rangel violated laws. He violated regulations. He violated the rules of thisHouse.” After ethics committee mem-
bers outlined the basics of the case, Rangel delivered a five-min- ute address that was equal parts contrite and personal, noting that Tuesday was the 60th anni- versary of the near-fatal injury suffered during the war. Rangel apologized to the
House, saying: “I have made seri- ous mistakes.” But he pleaded with lawmakers to reduce the sanction. “I brought it on myself, but I still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness.” After Rangel spoke, he was
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defended by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who served as the embat- tled congressman’s lead defense attorney. Scott listed other exam- ples of congressmen, including former representativesNewt Gin- grich (R-Ga.) and Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who had violated House rules and received a lesser pun- ishment. Scott reiterated the main pillar
of Rangel’s defense: that his of- fenses did not involve personal enrichment. “He knows he messed up. He
knows he will be punished,” Scott said. “We just ask that he be punished like everybody else. . . . There is no precedent for censure in this case.” The lone Republican to speak
on Rangel’s behalf was a longtime friend from New York, Rep. Peter T. King, who said he disagreed with Rangel on almost every issue. But King, who said he had come to know Rangel through debates on New York television shows, said he saw no evidence that Rangel had committed a crime serious enough for cen- sure. “If expulsion is the death pen-
alty, then censure is life in pris- on,” he said. “Why, today, are we being asked to reverse 200 years of precedents?” He ended by im- ploring colleagues not to vote for censure. At the end of about an hour of
debate, Lofgren made a closing argument — that Rangel’s pun- ishment should set a new prece- dent, not follow old ones. “The process is about protect-
ing the integrity of the House as much as it is about sanctioning a member who has violated the rules,” she said. Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.),
a Rangel ally, then offered an amendment that would have re- duced Rangel’s punishment to a reprimand. The amendment failed, and the House went on to the censure vote. In his news conference after
the vote, Rangel said he did not regret asking for the ethics inves- tigation that eventually led to his censure. “Iamso pleased that the facts came out,” he said. He re- turned, again, to the argument that none of his violations had enriched him personally. He sug- gested a newspaper headline: “Rangel found not guilty of cor- ruption and self-dealing.” The congressman was asked
whether he would be diminished among his peers in theHouse. “Charlie Rangel isCharlie Ran-
gel,” he responded. In other words, no. How did it feel to stand in the
well and be censured, the first House member in almost 30 years, another reporter wanted to know. “Have you got a license in
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psychiatry?” Rangel said. And after that laugh line, the gentle- man from New York turned and walked away.
kanep@washpost.com fahrentholdd@washpost.com
Staff writer Felicia Sonmez contributed to this report.
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