Rangel to be Kept by Pelosi

Rep. Charles Rangel said yesterday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised him he will keep his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee as long as he wants – even though investigators haven’t completed their report on ethical allegations facing the Harlem Democrat.

“She told me I am her chairman of the Ways and Means Committee as long as I want to be,” Rangel boasted to reporters at a ribbon-cutting for the new East Harlem School.

The surprising comments came as other members of Congress raised questions about whether Pelosi had improperly communicated with the House Ethics Committee despite strict rules against such contact.

Read more: (Daphne Retter and David Seifman, “Pelosi ‘Pledge’ to Keep Rangel,” New York Post, 12/03/08)