NY Times calls for Rangel to step down from chairmanship

The New York Times, in an editorial out this morning, calls for Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) to step down from his post as chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee while ethical violations against him are investigated.

The paper cited "mounting embarrassment for taxpayers and Congress" which it said "makes it imperative" for Rangel to take a temporary hiatus from his powerful post on Capitol Hill.

"This recommendation does not come easily," wrote the Times, "considering the New York Democrat's four decades of service in Congress." But, the newspaper continued, "Mr. Rangel himself has felt obliged to request three separate House ethics inquiries of his behavior. While denying serious improprieties, Mr. Rangel concedes that he has not lived up to the 'higher standard' expected of members of Congress."

Rangel recently acknowledged that he was "irresponsible" in failing to disclose $75,000 in rental income and failed to pay federal and state taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. The news came after the paper recently reported that Rangel was occupying four rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, possibly violating House ethics rules on gifts and New York rules on rent stabilization.

The paper said Rangel, 78, had "hurt his case with clumsy, combative pleas of ignorance of the facts and law involving his Dominican villa." Rangel admitted that he may have made some errors in the reporting, which the newspaper editorial board criticized because of his "three decades' experience on Ways and Means," the primary tax-writing committee in Congress.