Unlucky 13

It's now official:

The House ethics committee announced 13 charges Thursday against Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who is accused of breaking House rules as well as federal statutes.

Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), the chairman of an investigating committee, read the charges against Rangel as the ethics committee began an organization meeting setting up a public trial for Rangel.

The charges deal with four main areas of improper activity.

Rangel, who did not attend the session, is accused of improperly using his letterhead, staff and franking privilege to solicit donations to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy at the City College of New York; of using a rent-stabilized apartment in Harlem for his campaign office; of failing to report more than $600,000 on his financial disclosure report; and of failing to pay taxes on rental income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic.

The investigative subcommittee also looked into whether Rangel broke House parking rules by storing his Mercedes too long there and found that the House Administration Committee was not enforcing the parking rules.

“I think it’s safe to say that none of us enjoyed this assignment – no one wants to investigate their peers,” Green said before reciting the specific charges. “But we recognize this was a task that was requested of us and the investigative subcommittee spent a significant amount of time closely examining the factual and legal issues involved in this matter.”

Sorry, Charlie-looks like you're headed for court after all.