U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Sunnyside) will face a trial before the House Ethics Committee to determine whether he violated ethics rules following a House panel’s recent investigation.
The congressman, 80, who was first elected to the House in 1971, has been accused of accepting four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan as well as improperly using his office to raise money for an educational institute in his name at City College in Manhattan.
In a statement released Friday, Rangel said he would be glad to be able to respond to allegations from the House Ethics Committee when they are made public.
“I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media,” the statement read.
The Ethics Committee will refer the allegations reviewed by an investigation subcommittee to a subcommittee, which will review the facts. The committee is expected to release its findings Thursday, at which trial proceedings would begin.
Rangel covers a small sliver of Sunnyside with no residences as well as part of Rikers Island, along with Harlem and other parts of Manhattan.
He will face four opponents in the September Democratic primary, including state Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV (D-Manhattan), banker Vince Morgan, activist Jonathan Tasini and Joyce Johnson.
— Nathan Duke
