BREAKING: Charlie Rangel charged with ethics violations

Charlie Rangel, found guilty of ethics violations

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A two-year investigation into allegations of misdeeds by New York Rep.Charlie Rangel culmnated today with charges of multiple ethics violations by a House panel. The news constitutes a general setback for Democrats in an election year and a personal one for the former chairman of the House Ways and Means  Committee. Rangel was forced to step aside from his position as chair of Ways and Means last March, following the revelation that he failed to report that corporate funds had been used to finance trips he had made to two Caribbean conferences.

The specific charges against Rangel have yet to be

spelled out, but the findings are sufficient to send the case to an eight-member panel of House Republicans and Democrats, who will decide whether the violations can be proved. In the event they can, punitive action may include dismissal of the Democrat, who has served in Congress for four decades.

The timing of the announcement could not be worse for Democrats, who already face an uphill struggle to contain control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections this November. Republicans are now certain to make Rangel's ethics charges a campaign issue. They are also likely to use as a sound bite Speaker Nancy Pelosi's now-ironic promise when Democrats took control of the House in 2006 to "drain the swamp" of ethical misdeeds by lawmakers.

The investigation of Rangel has focused on the following charges:

• His use of official stationery to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York.
• His use of four rent-controlled apartments in New York City, when the city's rent stabilization laws clearly apply exclusively to an individual's primary residence.
• His failure to report information on the financing and rental of his ownership interest in a unit in the Punta Cana Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic.
• His failure to pay back taxes on the rental income.
• His failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional assets.