At a somber hearing of the House ethics committee – held in a larger room in the Congressional Visitors Center to accommodate the throng of press – the subcommittee in charge of investigating Charlie Rangel for the last 21 months referred 13 alleged violations of House rules against the former Ways & Means chairman to the full committee. “One of the most difficult tasks assigned to a member of Congress is to sit in judgment of a colleague,” said Rep. Gene Green, the Texas Democrat who led the subcommittee investigation. “The task is even more difficult when the subject of the investigation has befriended and mentored so many new members of Congress.”

The subcommittee had expected to finish their investigation by the end of 2008, Bonner said, though Rangel’s lawyers seem to have drawn the process out as it evolved. The subcommittee emphasized both in the documents released Thursday and in the hearing that Rangel was given every chance to respond, was treated fairly and could have settled at any time.

Rangel, though, has insisted on his innocence, even after the ongoing investigation forced him to give up his Ways & Means gavel. Just before the hearing began, the Harlem Democrat noted that the charges lobbed against him amounted to a series of misdemeanors. “While this is not a good day for me the only good thing I can find is that there’s no inference of corruption (in the charges) at all,” he told reporters leaving the House floor.