Party on Charlie! You loser.
Rangel-Pelosi
Posted on 07/22/2010 8:23:36 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
Thursday’s unexpected announcement that the House ethics committee would begin a trial on ethics charges leveled against Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) came after a secret, months-long effort to settle the case fell apart, according to several sources close to the situation.
The negotiations were designed to avoid the extraordinary spectacle of a trial by his peers for Rangel, but they broke down when the parties in the discussions – Republicans and Democrats on the ethics committee, and Rangel himself – couldn’t reach an agreement.
Due the sensitive nature of the discussions, no one involved in the talks wanted to openly discuss them, but the conditions for a settlement included a public apology by Rangel for his ethical transgressions in exchange for lesser sanctions against the Harlem Democrat and an end to the case.
Republican aides said that Rangel faces the possibility of a formal reprimand by the House or possibly even a censure motion, although Democrats said it was premature to discuss what punishment will be recommended by the ethics committee.
One source close to Rangel suggested a compromise still may be reached next week, before the opening steps in the trial get underway.
Behind-the-scenes negotiations to settle the case between Rangel and Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the ethics committee, began in earnest in May, and continued into this week, said the sources.
But Rangel, Lofgren and Bonner, were unable to finalize a deal. Rangel was seen in an animated discussion with Lofgren on the House floor on Thursday morning, just hours before the ethics committee announced it would create an “adjudicatory committee” to evaluate the charges against Rangel.
A four-member investigative subcommittee of the ethics panel has been investigating Rangel since 2008 and has found “substantial reason to believe” that the New York Democrat violated House rules.
Several House insiders suggested Rangel wanted to string out the talks even longer in order to prevent the ethics committee from taking action on his case before the August recess. The House will adjourn after next week until Sept. 13, a day before Rangel’s primary.
“He didn’t want to do a deal, that’s for sure,” said a House official briefed on the talks with Rangel and his attorneys.
But a source close to Rangel denied that claim, and said the ethics committee shocked him with the announcement that it would move forward with the adjudicatory committee hearings.
This source said Rangel was willing to publicly acknowledge wrongdoing in some instances, yet was not prepared to admit guilt on all the areas demanded by the investigative subcommittee conducting the probe. The source blamed Republicans on the ethics committee for the deadlock.
“The settlement discussions did not break down over the issue of the congressman taking responsibility for his actions,” said the source close to Rangel. “He has admitted he made errors and corrected them a year ago. Frankly we thought we were making progress and were surprised by today's events.”
This source added: “We were waiting for a counter-offer this morning. We were still negotiating some kind of deal.” This source declined to go into specifics of what such an agreement would mean for Rangel or what allegations he would plead guilty to.
A House member close to the situation, though, insisted that Rangel was dragging his feet on the case in order to preserve his political career.
“It takes two to negotiate,” said the lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It can’t just be all one side.”
When it became clear that a deal with Rangel was not possible, Lofgren and Bonner took the highly unusual step of moving forward with a trial, a surprising move for the ethics committee, which usually operates in a cloak of secrecy and confidentiality.
Rangel, who has blamed the press and conservative watchdog groups for his reported ethical problems, said he was happy to get everything out into the open.
“I feel extraordinarily good that my supporters of 40 years will be able to evaluate what they’ve come up” with, Rangel told reporters Thursday. “This is it, this is what I’ve been waiting for, and we’ll see what happens.”
A trial could take weeks, and possibly months, to complete, according to House insiders and ethics experts.
With the August recess looming, and all members – including the 10 lawmakers serving on the House ethics committee – anxious to head home to campaign for reelection, as well as procedural hurdles that will have to be overcome before and during the Rangel trial, a final decision on what charges he could be slapped with could extend well beyond the Sept. 14 primary date in New York, said several sources close to the issue.
During the adjudicatory committee hearings, which will be open to the public unless the panel votes to close them, Rangel will be allowed to testify, call his own witnesses and offer potentially exculpatory evidence.
The eight-member committee will begin organizing for the trial on July 29, but the actual trial may not get under way until September. It is unclear when the rare public proceedings will be completed.
“This may take weeks, it may take longer, no one knows for sure how long it’s going to last,” said a House Democratic leadership aide.
That could make Rangel’s trial a political issue for other Democrats on the ballot in December. The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a letter to Democrats in several states Thursday evening calling on them to return contributions from Rangel, one of the House’s most prolific fundraisers.
Rangel, first elected to the House in 1970, has been under investigation over a variety of allegations related to his personal finances, including: failure to pay taxes on a Dominican Republic resort home; the omission of hundreds of thousands of dollars in income and assets from his annual financial-disclosure reports; control of multiple rent-stabilized apartments in a luxury Harlem building; fundraising on behalf of the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy at City University in New York and a media report that Rangel saved a lucrative tax break for a multi-million dollar donor to the center.
Rangel has denied any wrongdoing throughout the long ordeal.
The adjudicatory committee will use a “Statement of Alleged Violations” produced by an investigative committee looking into the Rangel allegations as the basis of its case against Rangel. That SAV, which says there’s “substantial reason to believe” that Rangel violated House rules, was approved in a bipartisan vote by the subcommittee.
Rangel will have his own defense team to represent him during the trial, while ethics committee lawyers will act as the prosecution.
The burden of proof is on the ethics committee lawyers to prove the charges against Rangel as outlined in the SAV. The bipartisan adjudicatory committee, overseen by Lofgren and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), has to vote on all the individual allegations. Those recommendations are then sent onto the full ethics panel for final disposition.
The House ethics committee last held open hearings on expelling former Rep. James Traficant (Ohio) in 2002, following his conviction on federal corruption charges. There have been similar “trials” for member in the past, but they are extremely rare.
The trial also carries political risk for Lofgren, Bonner and the ethics committee. Rangel remains personally popular with many members, especially the Congressional Black Caucus, and any suggestion that the ethics panel is “railroading” Rangel – especially from Republicans – could lead to a backlash for the ethics panel.
“This isn’t without some potential for trouble” for Lofgren and the ethics panel, said a House insider. “There are a lot of landmines here.”
Oh, the huge manatee!
None of this will stop the racist democrat from being reelected.
Ah....Transparency!
Why am I cooperating with our government's confiscatory taxation if the worst that could happen is someone formally calling me a bad guy?
That Rangle?
Pit-y...
Funny! Some people actually believed this crap.
Ah.... most ethical!
Distract, distract, distract.
Rangel will be used as a distraction during the lame duck session of COngress.
This will be entertaining. Pass the popcorn, please.
He’ll be reelected with 80 percent of the vote.
Party on Charlie! You loser.
Rangel-Pelosi
They figured that they couldn't stall it out past the election. If the House changes hands, then somebody might go to jail.
I don’t see where Rangel has too much to worry about here. If the Republicans win the House, he can string this out until just before they take over, and accept a deal. If the Republicans don’t take the House, he will be home free.
Excellent Point.
Race card to be played against the Pubbies in 5,4,3,2....
They already have. The Congressional Black Caucus is complaining that ethics investigations are targeting them unfairly. Of course, if they had not done anything wrong... but never mind that. It must be racism. Yeah, racism.
Ha ha ha ... a formal reprimand or even a censure motion. Ooooooo scary stuff. That'll really teach that rascally Rangel guy about making dough on the side and not telling anybody about it. I bet Rangel is losing weeks worth of sleep just staying up all night worrying about a "formal reprimand" or a "censure motion". Oh the humanity!
“Republican aides said that Rangel faces the possibility of a formal reprimand by the House or possibly even a censure motion.”
Oh, the horror! Beat me, whip me, make me write cold checks! If this was anyone of us, they would have us in the electric chair fried as an example.
I’m sick of these SOBs
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