Facing Ethics Probes, Rangel Drops Tax Leadership

Rangel steps down from tax-writing chairmanship, underscoring ethics worries for Democrats

By LARRY MARGASAK and TOM RAUM Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON March 4, 2010 (AP)

Buffeted by ethics inquiries, veteran New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel stepped down Wednesday as chairman of the House's powerful tax-writing committee, delivering a fresh political jolt to a Democratic Party already facing angry voters.

The action also muddied the congressional picture on taxes, coming as the House moves toward difficult debate over large automatic increases that lie just over the horizon. The outcome will affect tens of millions of American taxpayers.

Rangel's relinquishing of the Ways and Means Committee gavel spared colleagues from having to vote on a Republican-sponsored resolution to strip him of his post. But it also focused attention on ethical lapses by a top leader of a party that had promised to end a "culture of corruption" when it regained control of Congress in 2006 from Republicans.

That could spread far beyond Rangel. Ethical problems can be politically toxic for the party in power, particularly this election year with so much anti-Washington sentiment in the air.

Rangel, 79 and a member of Congress for the past 39 years, stepped aside just days after being admonished for breaking House rules by accepting corporate-financed travel.

He called his exile temporary. But he still faces inquiries by the House ethics committee over late payment of income taxes on a rental villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, his use of House stationery to solicit corporate donations to an educational institution that bears his name, and belated disclosure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unlisted wealth.

Some of these cases could result in rebukes more serious than last week's admonishment, and that could make it difficult for Rangel to reclaim his chairmanship.

He has been a key player in the health care overhaul debate, and whatever legislation finally emerges from Congress will bear his and the committee's stamp. Even more importantly, for the next few months Ways and Means will play a central role in shaping tax policy.

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