Rangel: Ethics Ruling Unfair

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is decrying a ruling handed down from a House Ethics Subcommittee Tuesday finding the long-time Congressman guilty of 11 ethics violations.

“How can anyone have confidence in the decision of the Ethics Subcommittee when I was deprived of due process rights, right to counsel and was not even in the room?” Rangel, who claimed to be unable to afford legal counsel after months of fighting his 13 charges, asked in a statement released Tuesday. “The Committee’s actions are unprecedented in view of the fact that they arrived at without rebuttal or counter evidence on my behalf.”

Rangel faced charges ranging from failing to pay taxes on rental income from his vacation home in the Dominican to using a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan as a campaign office. The full House Ethics Committee will hold a sanctions hearing to determine what the Congressman’s punishment will be.