Ex-Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) died on Monday. The first line of his New York Times obituary noted that he had to “relinquish” his Chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee and was censured by the House.
NLPC was directly responsible for his resignation from his Ways and Means Chairmanship. The action followed an “admonishment” by the House Ethics Committee based on photographs, audio recordings, and printed materials provided by me from a Congressional Black Caucus junket to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. I was an uninvited observer on the 2008 trip. My evidence demonstrated that the event was underwritten by big corporations like Citigroup, in violation of House Rules.
Moreover, one of the counts in the 2010 censure resolution was in regard to Rangel’s failure to report and disclose rental income from a beachfront “villa” in the Dominican Republic, exposed by NLPC. We noticed that Rangel reported income for several years and then stopped. We sent a Spanish-speaking attorney to the Dominican Republic who quickly confirmed that the house was being rented out on a regular basis. Isabel Vincent of the New York Post, followed up with a vist with a photographer in tow, who captured the iconic photo of the Rangel scandal.
The media coverage of these controversies prompted a more far-reaching scrutiny of Rangel’s finances, prompting Rangel to admit to concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional assets and income.
During the Censure trial, Rangal attacked NLPC specifically from the House floor. Previously, he had falsely accused us of breaking into his office and removing documents.
Click here for a detailed timeline of the scandals.
Rangel was 94. He was first elected to Congress in 1970, defeating Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who was beset by his own ethics problems. Rangel held office until 2016.
