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A House investigative committee on Thursday charged New York Rep. Charles Rangel with multiple ethics violations, a blow to the former Ways and Means chairman and an election-year headache for Democrats.

The committee did not immediately specify the charges against the Democrat,  but sources who could not discuss the allegations publicly said they include Rangel's misuse of official stationery, his use of rent-subsidized New York apartments and failure to publicly disclose financial information as required.

Rangel has served in the House for some 40 years and is fourth in House seniority. The charges by a four-member panel of the House ethics committee send the case to a House trial, where a separate eight-member panel of Republicans and Democrats will decide whether the violations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

The timing of the announcement ensures that it will stretch into the fall campaign, and Republicans are certain to make it an issue as they try to capture majority control of the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi had once promised to "drain the swamp" of ethical misdeeds by lawmakers in arguing that Democrats should be in charge.

Responding to the charges, Rangel said in a statement, "I was notified today, two years after I requested an investigation, that the Ethics Committee will refer the allegations reviewed by an investigations subcommittee to a subcommittee that will review the facts. I am pleased that, at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media."

Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said, "The action today would indicate that the independent, bipartisan ethics committee process is moving forward."

Republicans immediately seized on the case. House GOP leader John Boehner said the charges were "a sad reminder of Speaker Pelosi's most glaring broken promise: to drain the swamp in Washington."

Rangel led the tax-writing Ways and Means panel until he stepped aside last March after the ethics committee criticized him in a separate case, finding that he should have known corporate money was paying for his trips to two Caribbean conferences.

Officials said that in the current case, the committee and Rangel's attorney tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were private. A settlement would have required Rangel to agree that he violated ethics rules.

The investigation of Rangel has focused on:

• His use of official stationery to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York.
• Whether he had the Ways and Means Committee consider legislation that would benefit donors to the Rangel Center at the same time the congressman solicited donations or pledges.
• Preservation of a tax shelter for an oil drilling company, Nabors Industries, which has a chief executive who donated money to the center while Rangel's committee considered the loophole legislation.
• Use of four rent-controlled apartment units in New York City, when the city's rent stabilization program is supposed to apply to one's primary residence. This raises the question of how all the units could be primary residences. One was a campaign office, raising the separate question of whether the rent break was an improper gift.
• Whether Rangel, as required, publicly reported information on the financing and rental of his ownership interest in a unit within the Punta Cana Yacht Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Rangel also had to pay back taxes on the rental income.
• Whether he intentionally failed to report — when required — hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in assets. The amended disclosure reports added a credit union IRA, mutual fund accounts and stock.

Unwilling Democrats?
Rangel had hoped to regain his chairmanship, but the allegations make that virtually impossible this year.

He announced a bid for a 21st term recently, days before his 80th birthday. One of his Sept. 14 primary opponents is Adam Clayton Powell IV, son of the former congressman whom Rangel defeated in 1970.

While the case will generate unfavorable headlines for Rangel, it may have little effect in his congressional district, New York's famed Harlem, where the congressman has been a political leader for decades and is known by older constituents as a Korean War hero.

"He keeps ethics on Page 1 and Democrats, going into a tough election cycle, aren't eager to carry any liabilities beyond what they have," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College poll.

"But I think it has less to do — barring any major undoing of his legislative career — with his seat," Miringoff said.

'Dumb' questions
Reporters on Capitol Hill grilled Rangel about the allegations, but the lawmaker tried to sidestep some inquiries by characterizing them as "dumb."

Among the queries were questions on the allegations that he didn't file taxes on properties he owns in the Dominican Republic and the potential impact of the investigation on his job status.　

There was a particularly testy exchange between Rangel and NBC News' Luke Russert:

Russert: "Are you worried about losing your job?"

Rangel: "What are you talking about? Are you just trying to make copy? What job? The one I got?"

Russert: "Yeah, these are potentially very serious violations."

Rangel: "How do you think I got my job? I was elected. How do you think I lose it?"

Russert: "There are two ways, you can lose it if your colleagues voted you out of here because of ethics violations or if your constituents don't support you."

Rangel: "What station are you from?"

Russert: "NBC, MSNBC."

Rangel: "Well you're young, I guess you do need to make a name for yourself, basically you know it's a dumb question."

Russert: "How is it a dumb question?"

Rangel: "It's allegations made by some people."

Russert: "Sir, you did not file taxes on your properties in the Dominican allegedly, if that comes to be true, is that not a problem?"

Rangel: "It doesn't really sound like NBC asking these dumb questions. It just shows what happened to a channel that did have some respect."

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