By Michael Mcauliff, Richard Sisk and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Embattled Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel startled the House subcommittee weighing ethics charges against him Monday by announcing that he was "excusing myself from these proceedings" - and walking out.
"I respectfully remove myself from these hearings," the 80-year-old Rangel said with a dramatic flourish before departing.
[See 10 Reasons Rangel is in trouble.]
Despite having had months to prepare for the hearing, Rangel showed up without a lawyer and claimed he was too broke to hire one.
"I don't think it's fair," Rangel said, claiming he had already spent $2 million on lawyers and needed time to raise another $1 million to retain new counsel for the hearing.
"I fought in wars, I love this Congress, I love this country," Rangel said. "I think I'm entitled" to more time to set up a legal defense fund.
[See who donates the most to Rangel.]
As Rangel left the hearing room, members of the clearly confused Committee quickly withdrew to consider whether to proceed with what amounted to prosecution of Rangel without his presence.
The move by Rangel, who was recently reelected by a landslide despite the ethics charges against him, was chock full of chutzpah.
Three months ago, Rangel he demanded the committee get on with its case quickly and dared his colleagues to kick him out on ethics charges.
"I am not going away; I am here," Rangel said at the time in a rambling speech that was pure political theater. "If I can't get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot in getting rid of me through expulsion."
For 38 minutes, the raspy Democrat waved his hands and rolled his eyes as he challenged the ethics committee to take its best shot on the 13 charges against him.
[See a roundup of political cartoons on Democrats.]
Rangel admitted to making "mistakes" but insisted he never crossed the line to full-blown corruption.
Specifically, he denied one of the main charges against him - that he solicited money on his official congressional letterhead for a center in his name at City College.
Rangel said he was only guilty of "grabbing the wrong stationery. . . . It's not corrupt. It may be stupid, but it's not corrupt."
Reader Comments Read all comments (1)
Joseph Kidd of CA 12:46PM November 15, 2010