Walking out of his own ethics trial proved not to be enough to stop it, and today U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel has to face the fruits of his folly: The House panel convicted Rangel on eleven of the thirteen violations with which he was charged. The ruling will now go before the entire House Ethics Committee for action. Rangel was acquitted on the charge of violating gift rules by accepting donations to a CCNY public-policy center in his name, and another pair of charges were folded together, resulting in the total of eleven convictions. Those ranged from wrongly soliciting and accepting donations and gifts for the Rangel Center from people with business before the Ways and Means Committee (on which he sat); wrongly using congressional stationery, congressional staff, and other resources for related fund-raising; filing incomplete and inaccurate financial disclosure statements; and failing to report rental income.
Rangel Convicted of 11 Ethics Violations [City Room/NYT]
