Rangel launches fund to raise cash for legal fees

Hinting that his legal woes might not be over, Rep. Charlie Rangel announced yesterday he's set up a fund to raise money to pay for his mounting legal bills.

The embattled New York Democrat said in a statement that the House ethics committee had signed off on the creation of the Charles B. Rangel Legal Expense Trust. The defense fund, according to Rangel, will allow him to "retain counsel for ongoing activities related to the recently concluded ethics investigation and other ongoing matters."

The House voted to formally censure Rangel earlier this month for violating 11 ethics rules. Among other things, the congressman was cited for failing to pay taxes on a vacation home in the Dominican Republic and for illegally using his office to raise cash for a public policy center in his name at the City University of New York.

But Rangel's troubles might not be over. Earlier this month, the Federal Election Commission confirmed it's looking into whether Rangel broke campaign finance laws by using his political action committee, the National Leadership PAC, to pay for attorneys fees related to the ethics probe. Under House ethics rules, lawmakers are only allowed to use cash from their campaign committees or defense funds to cover legal fees.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative group that led the charge to have Rangel censured in the House, filed an FEC complaint earlier this month on Rangel's use of PAC funds. Rangel has denied wrongdoing.

In a statement Tuesday, Rangel cited the NLPC's complaint as the reason he had decided to set up a defense fund. "The repeated filings of allegations, no matter how unsubstantiated, by the (NLPC), a politically motivated right wing group dedicated to eviscerating civil rights and labor unions protections, have led to me to this action," Rangel said.

Under House ethics rules, contributions to the Rangel defense fund are limited to $5,000 a year—though, unlike regular campaign rules, the congressman can accept contributions from corporations

(Photo of Rangel by Alex Wong/Getty Images)