Rangel: Ethics Probe Near Completion

By Susan Crabtree, The Hill

June 1, 2009

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said Friday that an ethics investigation into his personal finances and fundraising activities would wrap up “very soon.”

The House ethics committee is reviewing several separate complaints against Rangel, including charges that he failed to pay taxes on a Dominican Republic villa, improper use of congressional letterhead for fundraising purposes, and allegations of a quid pro quo involving contributions to an educational center bearing his name.

“I am optimistic that this very soon will be wrapped up,” Rangel, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, told Dow Jones Newswires. “They have a sufficient amount of staff now that this will be wrapped up much sooner than later. I intend to soon be called as a witness.”

The ethics committee ended the 110th Congress without releasing its report on Rangel even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had said she expected it to do so.

The probe has faced delays after the August death of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), the panel’s former chairwoman, and the departure of the committee’s top staffer. The panel also expanded its Rangel probe in late December after a report in The New York Times charged that Rangel blocked a tax increase for a company at the same time he was seeking a donation from that company’s top executive for the Charles B. Rangel Center at City College of New York.

Rangel requested the probe. He has admitted to making mistakes on his taxes, but has denied doing anything unethical.