Rep. Charles Rangel's ethics inquiry may put Pelosi in a bind

Reporting from Washington — Speaker Nancy Pelosi took stewardship of the House two years ago with a pledge to "drain the swamp" and clean up ethical abuses in Congress. Now an investigation of one of her party's best-known members is putting her in an uncomfortable spot.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York is the subject of an investigation by a House ethics panel over his ownership of several rent-controlled apartments in New York, his failure to pay taxes on an offshore rental property, and his use of office letterhead to solicit donations for a public-policy school that would bear his name.

Last month, a story in the New York Times pointed to another potential problem. It suggested that Rangel preserved a tax break for an oil-drilling company in exchange for a $1-million contribution to the planned public-policy school. Since then, calls have increased for Rangel to step back from chairing the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, at least while the investigation continues.

All this has left Pelosi in something of a bind, as a new Congress takes over in January with an emboldened Democratic majority eager to work with President-elect Barack Obama to enact an economic stimulus plan.

Rangel, 78, is poised to be a highly visible player in rushing the stimulus package through the House. The committee he leads considers tax legislation, and the stimulus plan is expected to include some form of middle-class tax relief.

But Rangel could be assuming the limelight just as the ethics panel issues its report, risking political embarrassment for Pelosi, who had criticized the corruption scandals that plagued congressional Republicans such as Reps. Bob Ney of Ohio and Randy "Duke" Cunningham of Rancho Santa Fe while the GOP controlled Congress.

Rangel has strongly denied that any legislative action benefiting the oil-drilling company came in return for a donation to a school named after Rangel at the City College of New York. The 37-year House member with the trademark rasp has challenged the New York Times story in a letter to the newspaper, and House leadership aides say they fear a rush to judgment before the facts are clear.

The congressman asked for the ethics investigation in a bid to clear his name. "I really don't believe that making mistakes means you have to give up your career," he said at a September news conference.