David Dinkins' middle-finger to hecklers sums up how Rep. Charles Rangel feels about the ethics probe, the 80-year-old congressman said at a press conference this morning, where he sought to put the investigation behind him as he focuses on winning a twenty-first term in Washington.
“Ask the guys in charge in Washington when I’m going to get a hearing,” Rangel said, surrounded by about 30 supporters near his Harlem office.
Rangel, defiant and modestly apologetic, said he won’t repeat the mistake made by his predecessor four decades ago, which was not being in touch with the district.
“I think it’s safe to say that his biggest mistake was not coming home and campaigning,” Rangel said. “And I may be making a lot of mistakes, but that won’t be one of them.”
The congressman said despite the thirteen counts of alleged ethics violations, he has strong support among his colleagues and contributors.
“How many members would be able to have enough people to have their confidence to raise the type of money that I’ve been able to raise?” he asked.
Rangel also sought to flip around the message President Obama sent when he said during a television interview that he hoped Rangel would end his career “with dignity.” Many took that as the White House signaling it wanted Rangel to settle his ethics probe without a messy public hearing that could further hurt Democrats in the mid-term elections.
“He says to retire with dignity,” Rangel said, referring to Obama. “There’s no way in the world for a president and a constitutional lawyer to say that dignity is not fighting for your rights to prove that you’re not guilty of the charges.”
“I mean that’s dignity. Not cutting a deal, cutting and running,” Rangel added. “Dignity is saying ‘hey, I made mistakes I apologize, I’m not proud of it and I’m prepared to pay the consequences.'”
WNYC tried asking Rangel to explain part of his speech on the House floor Tuesday, when he reminded colleagues that he had given many of them campaign contributions over the years.
Rangel, though, did not want to discuss it.
“What happens on the House floor stays on the House floor as a part of the congressional record. What happens to me in Harlem, Washington Heights, El Barrio, the West Side, I’m yours,” he said.
That part of the speech inspired a New York Times editorial today, saying Rangel unintentionally bolstered the case for stronger campaign finance regulations.