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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Father Terrence who wrote (162526)	10/8/2009 11:52:32 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 173976

By BRODY MULLINS WASHINGTON -- The House expanded its yearlong ethics probe into Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel on Thursday, the latest blow to the embattled New York Democrat. The House Ethics Committee said it would broaden its inquiry to determine if Mr. Rangel filed inaccurate forms with Congress disclosing his personal assets. This summer, Mr. Rangel updated his personal-financial-disclosure forms for the past few years, revealing more than $500,000 in assets he hadn't before made public. Emile Milne, a spokesman for Mr. Rangel, called the announcement a "technicality," saying that "as a practical matter, today's announcement is nothing new." He said the ethics panel was already conducting a wide-ranging review of Mr. Rangel. Lawmakers are required to file annual reports with Congress disclosing their assets and liabilities. If the Ethics Committee finds that Mr. Rangel intentionally sought to hide assets, the panel could refer the matter to the Justice Department, which could pursue a criminal case. But the ethics panel, staffed by fellow lawmakers, has traditionally been more lenient. The broadened investigation could nonetheless pose problems for Mr. Rangel and other congressional Democrats. "This is just one step, but there have been a number of steps already," said Robert Walker, an ethics lawyer with Wiley Rein LLP who recently was the staff director for the House and Senate ethics panels. On Wednesday, Democrats and Republicans engaged in a heated fight on the House floor over a Republican effort to force Mr. Rangel to step down as chairman of the tax-writing panel until the ethics panel completes its probe. Democrats defeated the measure soundly, but for the first time in three similar votes over the past year, two Democrats voted with Republicans, signaling a possible softening of Democratic support for Mr. Rangel. The Ethics Committee said it has authorized nearly 150 subpoenas, interviewed 34 witnesses and reviewed 12,000 pages of documents in the probe. Mr. Rangel is already being probed for a range of allegations, from failing to disclose income on a rental property to using his official House letterhead when asking for donations to an educational center that bears his name. He has denied any willful wrongdoing.