Charles Rangel Convicted On 11 Counts Of Ethics Violations

It didn’t take long for the subcommittee hearing Congressman Charlie Rangel’s case to come back with a verdict:

WASHINGTON — A House ethics panel has found Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York guilty on 11 counts of breaking House rules.

The full ethics committee will next conduct a hearing on the appropriate punishment for the former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The committee will then make a recommendation to the House.

Possible punishments include a House vote deploring Rangel’s conduct, a fine and denial of privileges.

Apparently, the reason Rangel was convicted on all 13 charges is that the committee found two of the counts to be duplicitive. In any event, no we’re on to the punishment phase. Don’t expect expulsion.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. PD Shaw says:

    AFAIK expulsion would require a two-thirds majority. (Art. I, Sec. 5) Is that why this is being handled now, before the new members arive?

  2. sam says:

    “AFAIK expulsion would require a two-thirds majority. (Art. I, Sec. 5) Is that why this is being handled now, before the new members arive?”

    What difference would that make? The Congress can expel a member any time it wants, and there’s no double-jeopardy defense, nor statue of limitations to hinder it. I don’t see any Art. I, Sec. 5 limitations here.

  3. PD Shaw says:

    sam, doesn’t this apply?

    “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.”

    I’m just saying that the lame duck session would be the period least likely to garner two-thirds vote. Before the elections there would have been pressure on Democrats to oust him, after the new Congress begins there will be more Republicans than now.

  4. sam says:

    Exactly, PD. I was responding to this, “Is that why this is being handled now, before the new members arrive?” — and saying that if the new Congress, or two-thirds of it, wants to expel him, they can, regardless of what happens in the lame duck session.