Watchdog Group Calls for Rangel Ethics Probe

The non-partisan watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), called for a House probe on Tuesday to determine whether Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) broke rules by fighting against a tax loophole that helped a contributor to a school being built in his name.

As chairman of the House and Ways Committee, Rangel in 2007 helped preserve a loophole that protected Nabors Industries from paying higher taxes for relocating its offices from the United States to Bermuda, according to The New York Times. At the same time Rangel opposed closing the loophole, Nabors pledged to donate $1 million to the Charles B. Rangel School of Public Service that was being built at the City College of New York.

CREW wants the House Ethics Committee to look into whether Rangel broke House rules that forbid quid-pro-quo exchanges between lawmakers and companies or individuals. The committee is already investigating whether Rangel broke rules by failing to report income he received from his Puerto Rican villa, by living in a rent-stabilized apartment he doesn’t qualify for, and by writing fundraising letters for the school on official House letterhead.

Rangel told the Times that he opposed the loophole because it would have amounted to a retroactive tax increase. Nabors’s chief executive, Eugene Isenberg, said he never sought nor received special help from Rangel.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan criticized the House Ethics Committee and House Democratic leaders for not yet acting on the latest report.

“Rep. Rangel’s ethics problems continue to mount, yet the Ethics Committee and the Democratic
leadership remain silent,” Sloan said in a release. “Members of Congress often seem to believe that rules are for other people, and sadly, the Ethics Committee does nothing to correct that assumption.”