WASHINGTON — Former House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., was censured by his colleagues Thursday evening for 11 ethics violations stemming from improper solicitation of donations for an education center bearing his name, failing to pay taxes, and inaccurately reporting income.
The House voted 333 to 79 for a resolution that both censured Rangel and directed him to pay restitution to the appropriate taxing authorities or the U.S. Treasury for any unpaid taxes. The censure was recommended by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, with its members voting 9 to 1 following a two-year investigation.
The House vote for censure came after members voted 267 to 146 against a reprimand for the Harlem Democrat. Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., Peter King, R-N.Y., and a handful of other lawmakers had claimed a censure would be too harsh and unprecedented because Rangel had not engaged in any criminal conduct.
But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chairman of the House Committee of Standards of Official Conduct, pushed for the censure, saying that while it was a “wrenching decision,” it was proper in light of Rangel’s transgressions.
Lofgren countered Rangel’s supporters, saying some lawmakers were previously censured for using inappropriate language.
Rangel, 80, who had spent the week pleading with colleagues to vote for a reprimand, apologized to his colleagues on the House floor before the vote “for putting you in this very awkward position today.”
But he claimed that the censure vote and the humiliation associated with it was unfair because the committee found no evidence of corruption, self-enrichment, of an intent to evade the responsibilities to pay taxes and make financial disclosures.
Rangel said there is “no excuse” for his omissions and added, “I brought it on myself.”
C-SPAN fielded calls during the vote and most of the callers were angry with Rangel and felt that he should be criminally prosecuted, not just censured by the House.
