House Ethics Trial Begins for Charles Rangel

By: Nsenga Burton | Posted: November 15, 2010 at 8:27 AM

Rep. Charles Rangel

A rare ethics trial begins Monday for Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem. Rangel is accused of failing to declare rental income to the IRS on a resort he owns in the Dominican Republic, ignoring rules on disclosing his assets and improperly using official resources to raise money for a college center that was a monument to his career. Rangel's career peaked in 2007 when he became chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Last March he relinquished that post after his corporate-funded travel was criticized in a separate ethics case. Rangel, first elected in 1970 and now 80 years old, apparently is without a lawyer. He fired his defense team in October a few months after he complained in an August speech on the House floor that he could no longer afford legal bills that had reached nearly $2 million. The ethics investigation goes back to at least July 2008. Only former Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio), who was expelled from the House after a criminal conviction, has faced a similar trial since current House ethics procedures were adopted two decades ago. We'll see if the "shellacking" continues for the Democrats with this trial and the others to follow.