The AP is reporting that the House ethics panel has found Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) accepted trips to the Caribbean “in violation of House rules that forbid hidden financing by corporations.”
The ethics panel announced it was looking at the trips, sponsored by an organization called the Carib News Foundation, in June. Four other House Dems, all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, took similar trips; but the AP says the other members have been cleared.
At a press conference tonight, Rangel said the ethics panel would formally admonish him Friday, CNN reports. And he blamed his staff for what happened.
Rangel said “common sense dictates that members of Congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or errors of staff unless there’s reason to believe that member knew or should have known,” according to the AP.
One of the trips, in November 2008, was for a business conference held at the Sonesta Maho Bay Resort & Casino in St. Maarten, according to CBS. A staffer for the conservative watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center, who attended the conference and took pictures of signs featuring prominent corporate sponsorships, filed a complaint with the ethics office.
Here’s TPMmuckraker’s rundown of Rangel’s ethical problems.
Besides the Caribbean trips issue, Rangel has come under scrutiny in part for having to file amended congressional disclosure forms on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of assets he failed to report. And he had to pay $10,000 in back taxes on income from a rental villa in the Dominican Republic that he failed to report on his tax return and disclosures.
Rangel is also reportedly renting four rent-controlled apartments in the same Harlem building. According to the AP, the ethics committee is looking at the apartment issue and the congressman’s fundraising for a City College of New York educational center named in his honor.
(This post has been updated from its original version.)
Late Update: You can read the ethics committee statement here (.pdf).
Late Late Update: We have full rundown and analysis here.
