Rangel Rejects Clamor to Quit Committee Chair

Embattled US Rep. Charles Rangel will not give up his plum leadership position on one of the most powerful committees in Congress, his lawyer said yesterday.

Despite growing calls for him to step aside as chairman of the tax-law-writing Ways and Means Committee – because he failed to report rental income from his Dominican Republic hideaway on his own tax returns – Rangel will stay put as the House Ethics Committee investigates his personal finances.

“Mr. Rangel has not considered, nor has it ever been on the table, that he would step aside from his current position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee,” said the Harlem Democrat’s lawyer, Lanny Davis.

Read more: (Daphne Retter and Chuck Bennett, “Stuck in His Ways – Rangel Rejects Clamor to Quit Committee Chair,” New York Post, 9/17/08)