Rangel Spends Big Bucks to Defend Himself

Embattled House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel has spent nearly $280,000 in legal fees in the last quarter alone. The Politico newspaper reports the New York Democratic congressman’s most recent financial disclosure report shows he paid that money to four different law firms. He has spent $928,000 in legal fees over the last year.

Rangel is facing a number of investigations by the House Ethics Committee. They include inquires into whether corporate-sponsored trips he took to the Caribbean complied with House rules and if he inappropriately used his official stationery to raise money for a public center in his name.

There are also questions over his use of four rent-subsidized apartments in New York and his failure to pay taxes on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic. House insiders say the investigations could drag on into next year despite assurances last November by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that they would be completed by the beginning of this year.

Read more: (Bret Baier, “Top House Democrat Spends Big Bucks to Defend Himself,” Fox News Channel, 7/16/09)