Northattan

Rep. Charles Rangel before walking out of his own House ethics hearings on Monday. Photo by AP.

It took over 2 years and numerous twists and turns to get to the House ethics hearings of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY, but when all was said and done it was over in a flash: Just over 24 hours after the trial’s opening statements, the congressman on Tuesday was found guilty of 11 violations of House ethics rules.

Rangel was found guilty of a number of ethical lapses, among them failure to pay taxes, questionable use of rent-controlled apartments in Northattan and promising “pay for play” deals in campaign fundraising.

If this was Rangel’s last stand, it seemed, at first, a confusing one. There had been much speculation as to what the congressman would do to defend himself, having parted ways from his lawyers a few weeks ago. Rumors were rampant the onetime assistant U.S. attorney would use his much-lauded argumentative skills to defend himself.

But in a bit of political theater, the Democratic congressman of 40 years spoke before the House ethics committee on Monday only to declare himself unable to afford legal counsel. A wounded-sounding Rangel told the 10-member bipartisan committee and a throng of reporters, “as someone who would like to preserve the right of members to be judged by their peers, with counsel, I respectfully remove myself.”

Rangel then picked up a large overstuffed binder, shook a few hands, and walked out of his own ethics hearings. With no defense testimony or presence, the proceedings followed fairly swiftly, leading up to Tuesday’s announcement that the committee had found the congressman guilty of all but two of the charges against him.

From the hallways of Congress to the streets of Harlem, which Rangel has represented for so many years, many wondered why the once-powerful politician had declared himself silent, even if in the loudest of ways possible. “He’s a lawyer, right?” asked Morningside Heights resident Adam Bricknell. “Why couldn’t he just defend himself?”

The House ethics committee had similar questions, pointing out that Rangel had months to set up a legal defense fund. Rangel split with his lawyers at the Washington firm Zuckerman Spaeder because he could not afford to pay them, he said. And, he told the committee, he could not afford new representation. One of the charges against Rangel was that he provided incomplete financial disclosure forms to Congress, making it difficult to gauge the current state of his finances.

Rangel’s failure to secure counsel and his dramatic and abrupt withdrawal from the proceedings began to make sense after the committee, acting as a de facto jury, found Rangel guilty on 11 counts.

In a statement to the public full of righteous indignation, Rangel denounced the committee’s findings, saying: “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?” His performance Monday set the stage for Tuesday’s defense; the claim that he didn’t have a fair hearing.

This past August, Rangel declared that come what may, he was “not going away.” That familiar blustery tone seemed replaced by recent public silence on the ethics charges, and his victimized tone on Monday. But while Rangel may have walked away from the hearings, he hasn’t gone anywhere.

Rangel called the committee’s handling of the ethics charges unfair, and made sure to emphasize that even the committee’s chief counsel, Blake Chisam, the equivalent of a prosecutor in the case, said that Rangel wasn’t corrupt, just sloppy.

The committee will meet on Thursday to decide on Rangel’s punishment. The New York Times reports that ethics experts say that the octogenarian will most likely face a letter of reprimand or a formal censure.

While Rangel’s power may be diminished in the House, his legacy  at home seems intact:  In the streets of his local Northattan on Tuesday, residents may have seemed aggrieved and annoyed with the congressman, but they didn’t seem surprised.

“Typical Rangel,” said barber Sean Anderson. The men gathered in Anderson’s barbershop seemed to find Rangel more amusing than anything else. Tony Mason, who stopped in for a morning shave, remarked, “If nothing else, he always gives us something to talk about.”

Rep. Charles Rangel returns to Congress on November 15th, the same day his ethics hearing is slated to begin. AP Photo

UPDATE: In a dramatic twist, Rep. Charles Rangel walked out of his congressional ethics hearings this morning. During opening remarks, Rangel said that it would be unfair to try him without a lawyer. Rangel says he cannot afford a new lawyer after paying his old legal team over $1 million dollars.

“I object to the proceeding since I don’t have counsel to advise me; I’m going to have to excuse myself from these proceedings,” Rangel said.

Because he says he cannot afford a lawyer, Rangel wanted the trial postponed, despite the fact that Republicans are set to take control of the House and chairmanship of the committee in January.

If it was a delaying tactic it did not work. Ethics committee chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca) said that the hearing would continue without Rangel. After Rangel left, committee lawyer Blake Chisam laid out his case against the congressman, according to the New York Times.

There is some good news for Rangel, Chisam doesn’t believe that he is corrupt. “I believe the congressman, quite frankly, was overzealous in many of the things he did. And sloppy in his personal finances,” Politico reported Chisam as saying.

Democrats may have felt awash in a red tide as Republicans toppled them in many congressional races last week, but one seat was never in question: that of New York’s 15^th district in the House of Representatives. The seat belongs – almost literally, it seems – to Democratic Rep. Charles B. Rangel, who has represented Northern Manhattan in Congress for the last 40 years.

But Rangel’s easy reelection victory last week won’t be celebrated for long. Next Monday, the House Ethics Committee is slated to open a hearing on 13 charges that Rangel violated House rules. Among the allegations: Rangel failed to pay taxes, made questionable use of rent-controlled apartments in Northattan and promised “pay for play” deals in campaign fundraising.
Whether the trial will go forward as planned is still a bit of a mystery. Rangel recently split with his attorneys at the Washington firm Zuckerman Speader. He had paid the firm over $1 million from his campaign account, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Both Rangel and the House Ethics Committee have been silent on the subject of the pending hearings, refusing to answer questions about whether or not they will go forward, and if they do, who will represent the accused Congressman.

Rangel, a high school dropout who rose to become the first African American to chair the influential House Ways and Means Committee, has denied wrongdoing. But he now may face a more hostile ethics procedure than he might have before the November elections – particularly if the proceedings spill over to 2011, when Republicans will formally take control of the House and all its committees.

Specific charges against Rangel accuse him of failing to include $600,000 in assets on his congressional financial disclosure statements. Other charges allege that he owes unpaid taxes to the federal government and that he failed to report income from rental properties that he owns in the Dominican Republic.

Closer to his Harlem home, accusations include the use of congressional resources to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at New York’s City College, making him seem not only unethical but self-aggrandizing as well.

Particularly galling to some in Rangel’s upper Manhattan district are allegations that he made illegal use of rent controlled apartments in Harlem, including leasing one as his campaign office at well below market rates.

For many, the list of allegations is evidence of an entrenched political figure who felt so secure in his House seat that he had begun to believe the rules didn’t apply to him. But Rangel also remains one of Harlem’s most beloved political figures.

Northattan resident Luke Reynolds put it like this, “he might be a crook, but he’s our crook.”

Rangel is  “no dirtier than most” politicians, said Upper West Sider Steven McAdams.  “And at least he’s got, you know, personality.”

Political pundits have speculated that Rangel and the House Democrats want a quick ethics proceeding, starting right now, before the House switches its flag from red to blue in January. But it would be almost impossible for a new legal team to be up to speed as Rangel’s defenders by Monday. And that has fueled speculation that Rangel may represent himself.

That wouldn’t surprise many of his constituents, who reelected the congressman they see as their native son. “He’s got a mouth on him and always has,” said Harlem resident Daphne Anderson. “If anyone could talk his way out of his troubles, its him.”

Earlier this year, Rangel refused to negotiate a settlement on the ethics charges, forcing the House to hold formal proceedings against him, “I’m not asking for leniency, I’m asking for exposure of the facts,” he said. “If I can’t get my dignity back here, then fire your bet shot at getting me expelled. I am not going away. I am here.”

And Rangel showed that he was very much still here on election day, his quirky and upbeat personality on full display as he voted in the morning, hamming it up for the cameras, and as he watched his own win on a night where Democrats suffered huge losses.

In the wake of the election, Rangel has been out and about in front of the media. But on the subject of the hearings he has been consistently evasive. When a TV reporter asked him about his looming ethics trial as he celebrated his election victory, Rangel’s usually friendly demeanor shifted to heavy-handed sarcasm. “I’m certainly glad that you brought that up,” he said,  “because quite frankly I wasn’t thinking about that tonight.”

And on Veterans Day, speaking to a group of reporters, Rangel again refused to answer any questions about the ethics trail, “I don’t think I’m at liberty to discuss that right now” he said. “Plus I’ll be available Monday in Washington.”

That’s the day that Congress returns for its lame duck session, the same day the Rangel hearings are set to start. Rangel and his staff didn’t respond to phone calls about the hearings and whether or not the congressman will defend himself. And Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the head of the Ethics Committee, has not yet commented on whether the trial will move ahead on schedule.

Lofrgren scheduled the date of Rangel’s ethics committee unilaterally, after warring with the Committee’s Republicans, under the leadership of soon-to-be chair Jo Bonner of Alabama.

The House Ethics committee has already admonished Rangel for violating house gift rules when he accepted trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008. If found in violation of the rules again, he could be given admonishing letter, or a formal reprimand. More severe punishments include censure or even expulsion from Congress. The lighter punishments only need a majority of the committee to pass, while expulsion requires a full two-thirds vote.