House Ethics Committee

The bipartisan House Ethics Committee recommended Thursday that embattled New York Democrat Charles B. Rangel be censured by the full House of Representatives for ethics violations, the stiffest penalty a member can face short of expulsion. The House will probably take up the matter after Thanksgiving. Rangel would be the first congressman censured in almost 30 years. The Harlem representative had sought a lighter sanction. Before the vote, he asked the committee for leniency, pointing to his 40 years of service on Capitol Hill and saying "there was not even the suggestion of corruption" in the allegations against him. Unlike the defiant posture Rangel assumed this week, the 80-year-old former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee seemed resigned, even dispirited.

The newly created 44th Congressional District sprawls from San Pedro to Watts and across to South Gate. Its many blue-collar communities have been hard hit by the economic downturn and share a need for jobs, safe and affordable housing, and a representative capable of pushing those priorities in Congress despite the political gridlock that has seized Washington. The two candidates for the job, Janice Hahn and Laura Richardson, are incumbent Democratic members of the House, pitted against each other as a result of redistricting.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) has been named chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, taking over at a crucial time for the nation and further increasing California's clout in Washington. A pledge by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) to "drain the swamp" -- referring to a culture of corruption that many said had permeated Republican-controlled Washington -- helped Democrats win control of the House in 2006.

The House Ethics Committee is conducting a review involving Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada, posing a potential challenge for the Las Vegas Democrat whose closely watched bid for the Senate could determine which party controls the chamber. The Ethics Committee acknowledged its work in a brief statement Friday and plans to make its findings public by July 9. The issue was referred to the committee in February by the Office of Congressional Ethics. The committee did not disclose details and said the probe does not indicate that an ethics violation has occurred.

—The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday announced the hiring of an outside counsel to review the case against Rep. Maxine Waters and misconduct allegations against the committee staffers involved in investigating the veteran Los Angeles congresswoman. The panel voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Washington attorney Billy Martin. "Serious allegations have been made about the committee's own conduct in this matter," the panel's Republican chairman Jo Bonner of Alabama and top Democrat, Linda Sanchez of California, said in a statement.

The newly created 44th Congressional District sprawls from San Pedro to Watts and across to South Gate. Its many blue-collar communities have been hard hit by the economic downturn and share a need for jobs, safe and affordable housing, and a representative capable of pushing those priorities in Congress despite the political gridlock that has seized Washington. The two candidates for the job, Janice Hahn and Laura Richardson, are incumbent Democratic members of the House, pitted against each other as a result of redistricting.

The House ethics committee has privately chastised House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) for threatening a Washington trade association with retaliation last year for hiring a prominent Democrat as its president, sources said Thursday. Although the panel has not released its letter cautioning DeLay about his conduct, the committee did issue a public memorandum this week warning House members, officers and employees against linking their official actions to partisan considerations.

The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it will conduct an official inquiry into accusations that Speaker Jim Wright violated House conflict-of-interest rules in his financial dealings. Committee Chairman Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles) said the panel--six Democrats and six Republicans--unanimously approved "a preliminary inquiry in the matter of Speaker James Wright." "The Speaker of the House has been notified and has pledged his full cooperation," he said.

The House Ethics Committee has concluded tentatively that Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) broke House rules by failing to report as gifts a number of benefits received from a Texas business partner, a source close to the investigation said Monday. The panel provisionally agreed with its special counsel, Chicago attorney Richard J. Phelan, that the partnership was used to funnel gifts to Wright in the form of an almost rent-free apartment, a Cadillac and an annual $18,000 salary for his wife, the source said.

A congressional ethics watchdog has asked for a further probe of campaign fundraising appeals to Wall Street firms by Rep. John Campbell (R-Irvine) and two other House members before lawmakers voted on financial regulatory overhaul legislation. Campbell confirmed the Office of Congressional Ethics' referral to the House Ethics Committee but denied wrongdoing. "I am perplexed by OCE's decision, as they have presented no evidence that would suggest wrongdoing," he said in a statement Tuesday.

Newt Gingrich on Sunday minimized the ethics probe that resulted in a record $300,000 fine during his term as House speaker and, slapping back at Mitt Romney, said all the pertinent information is available for public consumption. "Anybody's who concerned, go read the 1,300 pages," Gingrich said. "It's online, for free. " Gingrich, who took a Sunday morning victory lap on the political chat shows after his landslide South Carolina primary win, was asked about the 1997 ethics report on CNN's "State of the Union.

With a rich trail of utterances, Newt Gingrich has outlined an opinion of himself that ranges from lofty to stratospheric. In 1985, Gingrich told the Washington Post: "I have enormous personal ambition. I want to shift the planet. And I'm doing it. " In 1994, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "People like me are what stand between us and Auschwitz. " Just the other day, at the Iowa statehouse, he gave himself credit for helping defeat the Soviet Empire. As Gingrich seeks the GOP presidential nomination here, where the first ballots of the 2012 nominating contest will be cast Jan. 3, Iowans are weighing his long experience, conservative credentials and their hope that he is the Republican who could best President Obama rhetorically.

The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it will continue to investigate whether Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. or an emissary directed or knew of efforts to raise campaign cash for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for Jackson's appointment to the Senate in 2008. In making the announcement, the panel released findings from an initial review by another office that found "probable cause" that Jackson either directed someone to offer to raise funds in exchange for the seat or knew such an offer would likely be made.

The seemingly endless ethics investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) may finally be heading to a conclusion. The House Ethics Committee has commissioned a prominent outside lawyer to examine the conduct of committee staffers who allegedly violated her rights by leaking investigative information to a Republican committee member. If the committee decides to revive its investigation, the outside counsel will play a continuing role. The Waters case can be traced back to a meeting investigators say the congresswoman set up between Treasury Department officials and the National Bankers Assn., which represents minority-owned banks.

With its case against Rep. Maxine Waters in turmoil, the House Ethics Committee on Wednesday hired a prominent outside lawyer to examine whether its own staff acted improperly while investigating the veteran Los Angeles congresswoman. After Washington lawyer Billy Martin completes his review of the committee staff's conduct, the ethics panel will decide whether to pursue the case against Waters, an outspoken Democrat who has held elective office in Sacramento or Washington for more than three decades.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) on Tuesday launched a new drive to push the House Ethics Committee to drop its long-running case against her, saying that internal committee documents show she cannot get a fair hearing from the panel. Waters' lawyer, Stanley Brand, said the documents included allegations that there was misconduct among the committee staff members who investigated the Democratic congresswoman, and further action by the panel would be "irremediably tainted. " "Simply put," Brand said, "this committee can never conduct an impartial and unbiased inquiry.

WASHINGTON ? A congressional panel has found New York Rep. Charles Rangel guilty of 11 violations of House ethics rules and now will consider sanctions of the Democrat that could range from formal reprimand to expulsion from Congress. Rangel had been charged with 13 rules violations, including failing to declare rental income from a Dominican villa, improper solicitation of donations on congressional letterhead and misuse of a rent-controlled apartment as a campaign office. Two of the violations were combined.

—The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday announced the hiring of an outside counsel to review the case against Rep. Maxine Waters and misconduct allegations against the committee staffers involved in investigating the veteran Los Angeles congresswoman. The panel voted unanimously Tuesday night to hire Washington attorney Billy Martin. "Serious allegations have been made about the committee's own conduct in this matter," the panel's Republican chairman Jo Bonner of Alabama and top Democrat, Linda Sanchez of California, said in a statement.

In a sign of growing political pressure on Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) over his inappropriate online contact with women, the top House Democrat on Tuesday formally notified the House Ethics Committee of the situation and restated the need for an investigation. "This builds on the pressure on him to go," said a senior Democratic aide. The committee can act on its own to launch an investigation, but the letter from Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the minority leader, to the top Republican and Democrat on the committee amplifies her earlier call for an investigation.