For 40 years, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel has represented the Harlem area of New York. He has been demagogic, embarrassing and personally and politically outrageous in his conduct.
But even his congressional colleagues, who know him well, were shocked when he picked up his papers and strode out of a congressional hearing Monday to avoid facing charges of financial and fundraising misconduct.
The 80-year-old, 20-term congressman left the hearing but by no means resigned. His departure left four Democrat and four Republican congressmen figuratively with their mouths hanging open, as they had prepared to sit as a jury on whether Rangel had violated House rules.
He said he had run out of money to hire defense lawyers — after paying previous attorneys about $2 million — and needed time to raise an additional $1 million! The chief counsel for the ethics committee said, “I see no evidence of corruption,” suggesting only that Rangel was “sloppy in his personal finances.”
Rangel earlier surrendered his Ways and Means Committee chairmanship when he was admonished for taking two corporation-paid Caribbean trips in violation of House rules.
Now, with Rangel absent from the latest hearing, the eight congressmen on the ethics panel have found him guilty of 11 violations. There may be a vote soon by the whole House, which could condemn his conduct, fine him and deny him House privileges.
Is that enough?