Rep. Charles B. Rangel is calling for an investigation of the House Ethics Committee, charging that he was unfairly treated because of party politics. In 2011, the longtime congressman from Harlem was censured by the House for failing to pay income taxes and misuse of his office to solicit fundraising donations, among others.

From the New York Times [5]:

Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who has represented Harlem for four decades, acknowledged that he had signed a plea agreement, admitting most of the accusations against him, including a failure to pay some income taxes and a misuse of his office to solicit donations. But he said this week that he had done so because of intense pressure from party leaders.

Now he says that the case against him pursued by the House Ethics Committee was biased and that he was denied due process, and he has demanded an investigation.

The evidence, he said, is a memo by the committee’s former staff director and chief counsel warning that misconduct by two of its lawyers had “so tainted the proceedings that there would have been no option but to move to dismiss” the charges had Mr. Rangel contested them.

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