WASHINGTON—A House ethics panel found senior Democratic lawmaker Charles Rangel violated House ethics rules, on 11 of the 13 counts lodged against him. The New York congressman wasn't in the hearing room when the announcement was made.
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Rep. Charles Rangel
"We have tried to act with fairness led only by the facts and the law, and I believe that we have accomplished that mission,'' said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), chairwoman of the ethics committee.
The panel reached its decision after a second day of closed-door discussions about the case. Mr. Rangel walked out of the disciplinary proceeding early Monday, protesting his lack of a lawyer and saying he could no longer afford one and shouldn't be forced to proceed without one.
Later that day, the panel accepted as fact the entire prosecution case against Mr. Rangel, indicating that he would almost certainly be found to have violated some ethics rules.
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On Tuesday, the panel of eight lawmakers announced they had concluded his actions were violations of ethics rules regarding the use of congressional staff and stationery, as well as requirements to accurately report his assets and improperly using a rent-stabilized residential apartment as a campaign office.
The 80-year-old lawmaker has represented Harlem for four decades, becoming a powerful figure in both New York and national politics. The ethics issues, which were uncovered in 2008, forced him to relinquish his chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee this March.
He was formally charged by the ethics committee in July, and resisted calls by some in his party to leave Congress for the good of his party. He refused, and won re-election this month.
The panel deadlocked 4-4 on a charge that by trying to raise money for a college center named in his honor he had been seeking a gift for himself. Mr. Rangel had denied that he gained personally from having such a center named in his honor.
On one other count, the panel found the allegations were already covered in a previous count. Both counts revolved around Mr. Rangel's use of congressional stationery to solicit funds for the college center in his home district.
Mr. Rangel declined to comment.
Ken Spain, a spokesman for the House GOP campaign arm, called the decision "the nail in the coffin of what [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi promised would be the 'most ethical Congress in history.' ''
The case now goes to the full 10-person ethics committee to make a recommendation on punishment. The recommendation must be voted on by the full House. The most likely punishment is reprimand, but it is possible he could also face censure on the House floor.
Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com
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