Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times
Representative Charles B. Rangel at a House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct hearing on Thursday.
The 9 to 1 vote ends the committee’s two-year investigation into the Harlem Democrat’s improper fundraising, failure to pay taxes, and failure to report income on his Congressional financial disclosure forms. Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, called the deliberations “wrenching.”
The censure must now be approved by the full House, which plans to take up the matter after its Thanksgiving recess.
If, as expected, the censure is approved, Mr. Rangel will become the first member to receive such punishment since 1983, when two congressmen were rebuked for sexual misconduct with House pages. Mr. Rangel will be required to stand in the well of the House while the Speaker reads a resolution rebuking him.
The committee also ordered Mr. Rangel to pay thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes from rental income on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.
The panel’s vote came after an emotional hearing during which Mr. Rangel struggled to compose himself and pleaded for mercy, sounding alternately defiant and apologetic.
“I don’t know how much longer I have to live,” said Mr. Rangel, 80, his eyes watery and his voice quivering. But he said whatever time he has, he will spend it trying “to help people and thank God for what he’s given to me.”
Mr. Rangel had earlier this week stormed out of the proceedings, calling them unfair and complaining he could no longer afford to pay a lawyer. But he was present when the verdict was read, and asked just before that the committee note in its report that his transgressions had not been committed “with the intention of bringing any disgrace on the House or enriching myself personally.”
Ms. Lofgren did not respond to his request, saying only that the commit would release a written report later, and adjourned the hearing.
The censuremarks a momentous downfall for Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who has represented the Harlem neighborhood where he was born for 40 years. As a decorated Korean War veteran and civil rights advocate, he became a combative and irrepressible voice for liberal causes and in 2007, snared one of the most powerful positions in Congress, the chairmanship of the Ways and Means committee.
His troubles began in July 2008, when news reports revealed that he had accepted four rent stabilized apartments from a Manhattan developer at prices significantly below market value. As his personal finances were scrutinized in the months that followed, Mr. Rangel was charged with an assortment of other violationsfor failing to pay taxes on rental income from the Caribbean villa and failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars on assets on his financial disclosure forms.
Mr. Rangel’s fundraising for a City College of New York building to be named in his honor led to additional ethics complaints because he used congressional stationary and staff, sought donations from corporations with business before his committee, and helped extend a tax loophole worth hundreds of millions of dollars for an oil company at the same time he was asking for a $1 million contribution from its top executive.
Through much of the investigation, Mr. Rangel defended himself with his characteristic pugnacity, insisting that sloppy record keeping had led to the tax and financial disclosure violations. He insisted emphatically that he never attempted to personally profit from his position.
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The committee’s chief counsel, who acted as a prosecutor in the case, argued for the censure, saying that Mr. Rangel had violated the public trust for years and the severity of hisinfractions underminedthe credibility of Congress.
“He demonstrated a lack of attention and carelessness over a broad range of issues over a lengthy period of time,” said Mr. Chisam.
Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat from North Carolina on the committee, urged a more lenient punishment of reprimand, saying that Mr. Rangel’s misconduct was unintentional and that his long record of public service should be considered.
But Republicans were quick to counter that the definition of “corruption” being used by Mr. Rangel and his supporters defied common sense.
“"The failure to pay taxes for 17 years - what is that?" asked Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas.
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