A long career could end in jail time.
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The storied life and career of Charles B. Rangel are at a sad impasse, but how could a man in charge of writing tax policy not pay his taxes? What was he thinking? Did he expect his colleagues in the House to cut him slack because of his seniority? He has served in the House since 1971, and like another lawmaker of that vintage, assumed he could get away with blatant disregard of the rules. Former Chairman Dan Rostenkowski is the cautionary tale. Like Rangel, he chaired Ways and Means, the powerful tax-writing committee, and he was found guilty of supplementing his congressional salary by trading in office postage stamps for cash. He went to jail for mail fraud.
If Rangel doesn't cut a deal that acknowledges wrongdoing on at least some of the 13 counts leveled against him, he too could be looking at jail time. The severity of his situation has been slow to dawn on Rangel, an icon in his New York district, an architect of the Harlem Renaissance as the man who convinced President Clinton to move his office to West 125th Street when he left the White House. Arriving in Congress Thursday morning, Rangel seemed to finally grasp the terrible scenario ahead, saying, "Sixty years ago, I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea and have said that I haven't had a bad day since ... But after today, I may have to revise that statement."
Rangel did not attend the meeting of the House ethics committee that laid out the charges against him, choosing to submit a written statement instead. If a settlement is not reached, the equivalent of a trial will get underway in the fall, with Rangel's colleagues and peers acting as judge and jury. The four Democrats and four Republicans that sit on the ethics committee comprise the jury, and with Democrats having promised to "drain the swamp" and uphold higher standards, an 8-0 conviction is likely.
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