GOP wants Waters, Rangel on trial before midterm election 
 
 By Susan Crabtree - 
 
 Republicans on the House ethics committee are calling on Democrats to schedule the public trials of charges against Reps. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) before the November elections. 
 
 In an unusual break from the bipartisan secrecy the panel normally maintains, Rep. Jo Bonner (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the ethics committee, issued a public statement accusing Democrats of “stalling” the resolution of the Rangel and Waters matters. 
 
 “It is in the best interest of transparency and fairness to the American people, Representatives Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, and other members of the U.S. House of Representatives, that the House ethics committee stop stalling the resolution of the Rangel and Waters matters and complete these public trails prior to the November elections,” Bonner said in a lengthy written statement signed by himself and the four other GOP members of the ethics panel. 
 
 The ethics committee has been struggling to set a date for the public trials. Last Thursday the committee huddled in its basement office to try to hash out an agreement on the scheduling, but Republicans and Democrats were still at an impasse as of late last week. 
 
 Democratic leaders would no doubt like to avoid the spectacle of back-to-back public ethics trials for two of their members before the November elections. They have been frustrated with Rangel and Waters ever since they both rejected attempts to negotiate punishments and avoid a public trial. 
 
 Republicans, who stand to gain seats in the November election and possibly retake the majority, have every interest in showcasing the ethics charges against two prominent Democrats. Rangel, too, said he would like to have a chance to clear his name before the midterm vote and has expressed frustration over the ethics committee’s failure to produce a trial schedule. 
 
 Waters has urged the panel to hold the trial before the election, but last week said only that she would comment at the appropriate time. 
 
 Watchdogs are expecting those trials to take place after the elections so the ethics committee can avoid any accusations of politicizing the process. 
 
 In his public statement, Bonner specifically took issue with comments House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) made this past weekend. Bonner blasted Hoyer for inaccurately saying that the scheduling of the trials is “up to Jo Bonner, and Zoe Lofgren, the Democrat.” 
 
 Hoyer also called for the trials to “be resolved as quickly as possible” and attributed the unwillingness of the committee to set trial dates prior to the November election to “their own scheduling problems.” 
 
 Bonner pointed to committee rules allowing adjudicatory subcommittees to meet “at the discretion of the chair.” 
 
 “After months of trial preparation — and, in the Rangel matter, two years of investigation — Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren should have already issued notices of public trial schedules in both the Rangel and Waters matters,” Bonner said in the statement. 
 
 He also said that members of the committee have “repeatedly” expressed their willingness to meet in October and hold the trial and noted that in the past committee members have returned to Washington to conclude “pressing” ethics issues. 
 
 “Representative Rangel and Representative Waters have publicly and rightfully — demanded the setting of their respective trials prior to the November election to ensure swift and fair resolution of their matters,” Bonner wrote. “In our opinion, Representatives Rangel and Waters deserve the opportunity to publicly and timely address the charges against them.” ||||| In an extraordinary public statement, all five Republican members of the House ethics committee are calling on Democrats to schedule ethics trials for Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) before the November elections. 
 
 Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), ranking member of the committee, was joined by his four Republican colleagues on the bipartisan committee in slamming ethics committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) for not scheduling the trials even as the House prepares to adjourn until after Nov. 2. 
 
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 “It is in the best interests of the transparency and fairness to the American people, Representatives Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters, and other Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, that the House Ethics Committee stop stalling the resolution of the Rangel and Waters matters and complete those public trials prior to the November elections,” the Republican members of the normally secretive panel declared in their statement. 
 
 Bonner and the Republican blamed Lofgren for the delays in moving forward with the proceedings, saying she alone has the authority under ethics committee rules to set a trial date for the Rangel and Waters cases. 
 
 “The Chairwoman has repeatedly refused to set either the Rangel or Waters trial before the November election,” the Republicans wrote in a statement released Tuesday. “While we regret that the Committee has not worked together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the transparent and fair resolution of these matters to date, we look forward to working with the Chairwoman in a bipartisan manner to accomplish this – and other important unfinished Committee business – in the coming weeks.” 
 
 Bonner’s public criticism of Lofgren is a surprising move, considering the usually secretive nature of congressional ethics committees, and it opens up a divisive partisan clash over the Rangel and Waters cases. Lofgren and Bonner have been at pains since the start of the 111th Congress to play up their bipartisan cooperation on ethics cases, issuing frequent public statements highlighting their cooperation. 
 
 The clash over the schedule for the Rangel-Waters trials is the worst public fight for the ethics committee since early 2005, when Republicans moved to replace former Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), the committee chairman, and top panel staffers following an investigation into then Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). 
 
 Democrats were privately furious over the decision by Bonner and the other four Republicans to go public with their complaints about Lofgren. 
 
 “The whole ruse of it being a bipartisan, non-politicized committee has blown up in their face,” said one Democratic aide who follows the ethics panel closely. “The fact that they can put out this statement shows how damned partisan it is.” 
 
 The Democratic aide also said that Lofgren “has lost control of the process.” ||||| Getty Images GOP Rep. Jo Bonner, center, listens Thursday to an ethics panel hearing on Rep. Charles Rangel in Washington. 
 
 WASHINGTON—The House ethics committee charged Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) on Thursday with 13 counts of breaking House rules, launching disciplinary proceedings that could put one of the Democratic Party's prominent figures on public trial just before voters go to the polls this fall. 
 
 Mr. Rangel was charged during a rare public hearing by the ethics panel, a major blow to his 40-year legacy as a congressman. 
 
 The hearing began a few hours after lawyers for Mr. Rangel and ethics investigators struck a tentative deal that could lead to a quick settlement and bypass a public trial. 
 
 The details of that proposed settlement of the case, including Mr. Rangel's potential punishment, weren't known. Any agreement would need to win approval from a majority on the 10-member ethics panel. Membership on the committee is divided evenly between the two parties, giving Republicans the ability to block any plea agreement and force a trial. 
 
 Lawyers for House investigators and Rep. Charles Rangel have reached a tentative deal that could end a two-year ethics probe. Aaron Zitner discusses. 
 
 Mr. Rangel "was given opportunities to negotiate in the settlement phase. We are now in the trial phase," said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, a Republican on the ethics panel. He added: "Credibility is what's at stake here.…We must regain the people's trust." 
 
 Mr. Rangel told reporters Thursday evening: " Even though there are serious charges, I am prepared to prove that the only thing I've ever had in my 50 years of public service is service. That's what I've done. And if I've been overzealous in providing that service, I can't make an excuse for the serious violation but I can have an explanation of my intent." 
 
 The charges against Mr. Rangel, 80 years old, are related to his solicitation of donations for a City College of New York center named after him. He was also charged with using a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office in New York; failing to report income from a vacation rental in the Dominican Republic; and for a "pattern of submitting inaccurate and incomplete financial disclosure statements" to Congress. 
 
 Dates of a Scandal House investigators have laid out a series of ethics accusations against Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel. See key dates on the case. View Interactive 
 
 Ken Gross, an ethics and campaign-finance attorney in Washington, said that none of the charges would likely result in Mr. Rangel being kicked out of Congress. 
 
 "The penalty is having to go through the trial process, more than anything that they will do at the end of the day," Mr. Gross said. 
 
 "A rare and very public proceeding at a critical time in the election process would make any trial very painful," he said. 
 
 In recent days, Mr. Rangel has held out hope for a settlement. A major sticking point in the talks has been his contention that he didn't willfully break House rules, and that any transgressions resulted from honest mistakes. 
 
 The wording of the ethics panel's findings about Mr. Rangel's alleged violations has also been at issue, according to a person familiar with the case. 
 
 Negotiations between Mr. Rangel and ethics investigators have dragged on for months. Last week, the ethics committee, formally known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, announced that it had found enough evidence of wrongdoing that it would begin a public process to determine whether to convict him. 
 
 Among the 13 allegations leveled against Rep. Rangel: Raising money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College in violation of the solicitation and gift ban; 
 
 Raising donations for the Rangel Center from people who had business before the Ways and Means Committee in the House; 
 
 Using House letterhead to solicit contributions to the Rangel Center; 
 
 Using House employees and resources for work related to the Rangel Center; 
 
 Violating ethics rules with a "pattern of submitting inaccurate and incomplete financial disclosure statements"; 
 
 Using a rent-stabilized apartment for a campaign office; 
 
 Failing to report income from a vacation rental property in the Dominican Republic; 
 
 Violating the "letter and spirit" of House rules. 
 
 Democrats have been privately and publicly urging Mr. Rangel to settle the case, and the Harlem lawmaker has said he hoped to do so. In the last week, four House Democrats have publicly called on Mr. Rangel to resign. 
 
 The House ethics committee detailed the allegations during a brief hearing. Mr. Rangel didn't attend the session, but several of his lawyers did. 
 
 Several Democratic lawmakers took steps to distance themselves from the once-powerful former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. 
 
 Debbie Halvorson said she had given to charity all the campaign donations that she received from Mr. Rangel. 
 
 In Pennsylvania, Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy said Mr. Rangel should step down from Congress. 
 
 Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said the charges should come to light even if that would have a negative impact on Democrats' election prospects this fall. 
 
 "The panel will work; it's bipartisan; the political chips will have to fall where they may," Ms. Pelosi told reporters at a press conference. 
 
 She denied that Mr. Rangel's ethics problems showed that she had failed to deliver on a promise to "drain" an ethical swamp in Washington. 
 
 Mr. Rangel made it clear he was bracing for a difficult day. "Sixty years ago, I survived a Chinese attack in North Korea, and as a result I haven't had a bad day since," said Mr. Rangel, who was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in Korea. "But today, I have to reassess that statement." 
 
 Mr. Rangel is running for a 21st term. This year, the congressman has a handful of primary opponents. 
 
 —Eliza Gray contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com
– The ethics troubles of Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel have led to what both the Hill and Politico call a rare bit of public infighting on the House ethics panel. The Republicans on the panel demanded today that Democrats schedule separate trials for the two Democrats before the November elections. Anything else is just stalling to avoid negative headlines, said ranking GOP member Jo Bonner. “After months of trial preparation—and, in the Rangel matter, two years of investigation—Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren should have already issued notices of public trial schedules in both the Rangel and Waters matters,” said Bonner. Congressional ethics committees general work in bipartisan secrecy to settle such things. Both Waters (earlier stories here) and Rangel (earlier stories here) have fiercely denied any wrongdoing.