‘If I can’t get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot [and get] rid of me through expulsion.’ (
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WASHINGTON — Rep. Charles Rangel shocked his colleagues yesterday by delivering a defiant, rambling speech about his ethics woes on the House floor — denying the most serious charges against him and daring colleagues to kick him out of Congress.
“You’re not going to tell me to resign to make you feel comfortable,” the Harlem Democrat said during the 37-minute speech.
“If I can’t get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot in getting rid of me through expulsion,” he added.
“I am not going away. I am here.”
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Speaking the day before his gala birthday party and fund-raiser tonight at The Plaza, Rangel offered his most detailed and vigorous defense to date against the 13 ethics-committee charges against him.
“I’m not asking for leniency, I’m asking for exposure of the facts,” said Rangel, who spoke without notes and at times appeared emotional.
The former Ways and Means Committee chairman brought up President Obama’s statement in a recent CBS interview that Rangel should end his career “with dignity” — saying that meant he should get a chance to defend himself.
“I think when the president said he wanted me to end my career in dignity, he didn’t put a time limit on it,” Rangel said.
Obama had also called the charges against Rangel “very troubling” and pointedly noted that the lawmaker was at the end of his career.
Rangel acknowledged that his high-profile case, heading to a trial next month, puts his fellow Democrats on the spot before the midterm elections in November.
“I don’t want anyone to feel embarrassed, awkward. Hey, if I was you, I’d want me to go away too . . . I am not going away. I am here,” he said, to light applause.
House Democratic leaders were unaware that Rangel was going to make the statement yesterday morning, as the House convened for a one-day session, and even some of Rangel’s longtime aides didn’t get a head’s up.
Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, called Rangel’s performance an “unfortunate distraction.”
“Today is the day when Democrats want to focus on passing a bill that will save jobs for teachers around the country. Instead, there is going to be a lot of focus on [Rangel] and that can’t be helpful to the Democratic caucus,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear in her response that she wasn’t thrilled with his defiant approach: “As I have repeatedly stated, the independent, bipartisan ethics committee is the proper arena for ethics matters to be discussed.”
If convicted of the new charges, Rangel could again be admonished or censured. Expulsion would require the approval of the full House, which ethics experts have said seems unlikely.
Rangel offered several apologies, but stopped short of admitting serious wrongdoing.
“Now, I apologize for any embarrassment that I’ve caused,” he said at one point.
“The rules have changed,” he said, describing his efforts to solicit contributions for a center to be named after himself at CCNY.
“But it’s not corrupt. It may be stupid, it may be negligent, but it’s not corrupt,” he said.”
Rangel also repeatedly complained about his mounting legal costs — now approaching $2 million.
He said he has six lawyers advising him, and that they had counseled him against delivering the meandering floor speech.
“I can’t afford to be represented by counsel. Each and every day the expenses go up,” Rangel said.
The 40-year lawmaker is paying his legal bills from his campaign coffers.
He also complained about the two-year-long ethics process.
“I’m 80 years old. I don’t want to die before the hearing,” he said.
On his solicitations for the Rangel Center at CCNY — first revealed in The Post — Rangel claimed he mistakenly “grabbed” the wrong stationery, even though there are strict rules to ban improper use of congressional letterhead.
He jabbed the ethics committee several times, suggesting its Republican members had nixed the chance of a settlement.
“I don’t want to be critical of the ethics committee, because my lawyer said that you can’t get annoyed with them because there still may be room for settlement,” he said.
Rangel noted that the committee is scheduled to convene Sept. 13, the day before his primary election, but that the main part of his ethics trial would not come until later in the fall.
“Don’t leave me swinging in the wind until November,” he demanded.