Charles Rangel

Rangel Faces Tough Fight In Ethics Committee Trial

Brian Beutler | July 26, 2010, 3:39PM

In the coming days, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has a choice to make. He can listen to his Democratic colleagues and cut a deal, or he can face a full trial before a House panel over several allegations of misconduct.

It's extremely rare for congressional ethics proceedings to reach this stage. Members more commonly acknowledge some wrongdoing, or resign, well before they're forced to defend themselves before an official body. But the gravity of the Rangel allegations, combined with his intransigence to this point, leave him poised, potentially, to be the first House member to be tried, and even expelled, by his own colleagues since James Traficant, in 2002.

"We're kind of astonished it's gone this far," says Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center, whose work led to one investigation of Rangel and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. "We always believed the allegations against Rangel were serious, but we never thought the Ethics Committee would do anything."

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Topics: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Charles Rangel, Corruption, Ethics, Ethics Panel, House Ethics Committee, House of Representatives , Lanny Davis