Poor Charlie. He couldn’t afford a defense. Although he wasn’t expelled, he had to give up his valuable House Chairmanship.
“The decision comes one day after the panel rejected an emotional plea by Rangel to delay the trial because he lacked counsel. Rangel’s team of attorneys told him in mid-October that they could no longer represent him, and Rangel said he could not afford to hire a replacement right away after incurring nearly $2 million in legal fees over the past two years.”
I don’t feel sorry for CR, but this ethics panel really did not seem to have much power to actually do anything substantive. Depending on who is running the show, it could easily be abused. If someone leaves their office, the ethics investigation goes away.