Ethics Hearing Goes Ahead After Rangel Walks Out
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Members of the House ethics committee began deliberating charges Monday that Representative Charles B. Rangel violated Congressional rules, after an unusual public hearing that was abbreviated by the longtime congressmans dramatic exit from the proceedings.
Mr. Rangel, who appeared at the inquiry alone, stunned the packed hearing room by walking out after complaining that he had no lawyer because he could not afford the millions of dollars in legal fees he had racked up during the two-year investigation.
After declaring that I respectfully withdraw from these proceedings, Mr. Rangel shook hands with the lawyers for the ethics committee who were preparing to lay out the case against him and strode steadily out of the room. But after meeting privately, committee members resumed the proceedings without Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who has represented Harlem for four decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/nyregion/16rangel.html?_r=1&hp
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Members of the House ethics committee began deliberating charges Monday that Representative Charles B. Rangel violated Congressional rules, after an unusual public hearing that was abbreviated by the longtime congressmans dramatic exit from the proceedings.
Mr. Rangel, who appeared at the inquiry alone, stunned the packed hearing room by walking out after complaining that he had no lawyer because he could not afford the millions of dollars in legal fees he had racked up during the two-year investigation.
After declaring that I respectfully withdraw from these proceedings, Mr. Rangel shook hands with the lawyers for the ethics committee who were preparing to lay out the case against him and strode steadily out of the room. But after meeting privately, committee members resumed the proceedings without Mr. Rangel, a Democrat who has represented Harlem for four decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/nyregion/16rangel.html?_r=1&hp
