WASHINGTON -- Rep. Charles Rangel, once one of the most influential House members, was convicted Tuesday on 11 counts of breaking ethics rules and now faces punishment. An ethics panel of eight House peers deliberated over two days before delivering a jarring blow to the 20-term New York Democrat's career. The 80-year-old Rangel was charged with 13 counts of financial and fundraising misconduct.
Only last spring, Rangel held the exalted post of Ways and Means chairman, a position that made him the House's main writer of tax legislation. The Harlem congressman was not present when the verdict was announced.
The full ethics committee will now conduct a hearing on the appropriate punishment for Rangel, the silver-haired, gravelly-voiced and sartorially flashy veteran of 20 terms in the House.
The next step for the committee is to make a recommendation on punishment to the House.
Possible sanctions include a House vote deploring Rangel's conduct, a fine and denial of privileges.
The congressional panel, sitting as a jury, found that Rangel had used House stationery and staff to solicit money for a New York college center named after him. It also concluded he solicited donors for the center with interests before the Ways and Means Committee, leaving the impression the money could influence official actions.
He also was found guilty of failing to disclose at least $600,000 in assets and income in a series of inaccurate reports to Congress; using a rent-subsidized New York apartment for a campaign office, when it was designated for residential use; and failure to report to the IRS rental income from a housing unit in a Dominican Republic resort.
