Rangel urges House to speed up ethics process

Frustrated that the Ethics Committee does not plan to hear his case until September, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) took to the House floor Tuesday for an extraordinary personal appeal to expedite the process, saying he would not leave the chamber short of expulsion.

“Don’t leave me swinging in the wind,” he said. “I deserve and demand a right to be heard.”

The Harlem Democrat used a rare point of personal privilege to speak for more than half an hour during an emergency session intended to deal with aid to the states. He alternately expressed contrition for any wrongdoing — saying his conduct may have been “stupid” or “negligent” but was not “corrupt” — and criticized a closed process that has gone on for nearly two years and left him with mounting legal bills.

“This has to stop sometime,” he said. “If I can’t get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot at getting rid of me through expulsion.”

Rangel spoke with a candor not typically seen on the House floor, particularly about the political reality that comes with a senior Democrat under an ethical cloud months before an election. He said he did not fault Republicans for seeking to use his situation for political gain, or fellow Democrats for seeking a swift resolution as the midterm campaign heats up.

“I don’t want anyone to feel embarrassed, awkward. Hey, if I was you I would want me to go away too. [But] I’m not going away,” he said.

Rangel was formally charged in July with 13 violations of House ethics rules.

He is accused of using one of the four rent-controlled New York City apartments he owns as a campaign office; using his congressional office for solicitation of corporate contributions for a public affairs school to be established in his name at the City College of New York; failing to report income from rental properties and investments on his financial disclosure forms; and failing to report and pay taxes on a Caribbean rental property.

A formal hearing before an adjudicatory subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee, formally called the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, is not scheduled until September. Rangel had been urged to accept a formal reprimand rather than let the case continue on, but negotiations on a settlement were unsuccessful.

A second senior Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), also faces an Ethics Committee hearing on unrelated charges.

Rangel’s comments surprised even senior Democrats, who urged him not to make the speech.

“He has every right to defend himself, but it seems like he and Waters are now more concerned with causing collateral damage than clearing their name,” said a Democratic leadership aide, who requested anonymity to speak candidly on the matter. “No one is going to remember that we voted to save hundreds of thousands of teachers’ jobs. We can’t catch a break.”

michael.memoli@latimes.com