Some Dems Call for Rangel Resignation  07/31 10:09

   Rep. Charlie Rangel is getting sympathy from some fellow Democrats but scant 
support from others as he faces trial on several ethics charges.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Charlie Rangel is getting sympathy from some fellow 
Democrats but scant support from others as he faces trial on several ethics 
charges.

   President Barack Obama says he hopes the 80-year-old lawmaker can end his 
career with dignity and some House Democrats want him to resign --- now.

   Obama, speaking on the issue for the first time, praised Rangel for serving 
his New York constituents over the years, but said he found the ethics charges 
"very troubling."

   "He's somebody who's at the end of his career. I'm sure that what he wants 
is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens," 
Obama said in an interview that aired Friday on "CBS Evening News with Katie 
Couric."

   As House members headed home for the August recess, they wrestled with how 
to handle the ethics brouhaha three months before the midterm elections. 
Republicans already were eager to use Rangel's problems as a way to tar other 
Democrats on the issue of corruption.

   A half-dozen Democrats either conditionally or outright called for Rangel's 
resignation Friday.

   Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., said the allegations against Rangel brought by the 
House ethics committee show a consistent disregard for House rules and that he 
should step down.

   "It is our job as members of Congress to hold each other accountable to a 
higher standard regardless of party," said Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz. "If 
the serious charges against (Rangel) are accurate, he needs to resign."

   There was talk of Rangel's resignation as well from Democratic Reps. Walter 
Minnick of Idaho, Betty Sutton of Ohio, Zack Space of Ohio, and Mary Jo Kilroy 
of Ohio.

   Rangel denies the charges announced Thursday by the ethics panel and says 
they contain factual errors.

   He met Friday with perhaps his staunchest supporters, members of the New 
York state delegation.

   "He indicated there was some sloppiness" in his official papers, Rep. 
Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., told reporters, "but, you know, there's no criminality 
here."

   The New York delegation and the Congressional Black Caucus, which was 
co-founded by Rangel, urged their colleagues not to rush to judgment. House 
leaders were mum on what Rangel should do.

   Rangel faces 13 charges of misusing his office as well as tax and disclosure 
violations. If Rangel and the ethics committee do not settle the case, it goes 
to a public trial this fall, at the height of an election season.

   Further complicating matters for Democrats, a House investigative panel 
decided Friday to charge Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California with 
ethics violations, raising the possibility of a second trial. The alleged 
violations by Rangel and Waters are not related.

   People familiar with the Waters investigation, who were not authorized to be 
quoted about charges that had not been announced, told the AP the allegations 
could be made public next week.

   Republicans already were on the attack.

   The GOP's campaign arm, the National Republican Campaign Committee, released 
a list of Democrats who have not returned campaign contributions they received 
from Rangel during their careers and said those lawmakers would face questions 
about the matter from constituents during the August break.

   Rep. Gene Green, the Texas Democrat who led the four-member bipartisan panel 
of investigators, told reporters that his committee recommended a relatively 
mild punishment for Rangel: reprimand, a statement of wrongdoing voted by the 
whole House that carries no other penalty.

   But that's not what some lawmakers, including Democrats, view as adequate.

   "If at the trial's conclusion Mr. Rangel is found guilty by his peers, then 
he should incur the full punishment allowed by the House, including removal 
from office," said Rep. Bobby Bright, D-Ala.


(KA)