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Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has sent a letter to Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel asking him to give up his chairmanship of the powerful tax-writing panel while he's under investigation for a variety of financial problems.
It's the second time Boehner has asked Rangel (D-N.Y.) to give up the gavel -- last fall Boehner introduced a privileged resolution on the matter. Rangel has said he won't give in to Republican calls for him to step aside.
But since then Rangel has faced more questions, including a report that he failed to disclose $600,000 in assets on his financial disclosure forms. Rangel is already under investigation by the House ethics committee on several matters, including failure to report income from a Dominican Republic rental property.
Boehner's letter strikes an interesting tone, using the word like "respect" and "friendship" several times.
"As chairman of the powerful House committee, entrusted with the responsibility of writing the tax laws that affect every law-abiding American citizen, you, along with the Speaker and other leaders of the majority party, have an obligation to help set the pace when it comes to standards of official conduct," Boehner writes. "By relinquishing the gavel voluntarily while the Ethics panel does its work, you would demonstrate your respect for this obligation."
UPDATE: A Rangel spokesman tells Boehner and Republicans to back off and let the Ethics committee do its work:
"Congress has a comprehensive, bipartisan process for reviewing any allegations made against a Member - the House Ethics Committee. Chairman Rangel himself initiated the request for the Committee to review the allegations made against him," the spokesman said. "Any action by the Minority Leader or others to prejudge the outcome of that bipartisan process would unfairly undermine the work of the Ethics Committee." (hat tip, Lisa Lerer).
The full letter is after the jump.
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