Ethics panel recommends censure for Rep. Rangel

[cal04]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_rangel_punishment

The House ethics committee is recommending that 20-term Rep. Charles Rangel of New York be censured and pay any unpaid taxes for financial and fundraising misconduct.

The House will likely consider a censure motion after Thanksgiving. If it passes, Rangel would suffer the embarrassment of standing before his colleagues and receiving an oral rebuke by the speaker.

The five Democrats and five Republicans deliberated for several hours behind closed doors Thursday. Earlier, at a sanctions hearing, Rangel apologized for his misconduct but said he was not a crooked politician out for personal gain.