WASHINGTON — Less than a year after Rep. Charles Rangel suffered a humiliating censure for breaking a slew of ethics rules, he stood yesterday before an adoring crowd of his colleagues who heaped praise on the veteran lawmaker as his official portrait was unveiled.
Some of the most powerful members of both parties lined up to extol Rangel’s virtues at a ceremony in the House Ways and Means Committee hearing room, where the Harlem Democrat once ruled as chairman and where the portrait will hang for posterity.
The portrait of Rangel cost an estimated $64,500, which was paid by his political and campaign committees, and was painted by Simmie Knox, who has also done portraits of President Clinton and Oprah Winfrey.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recounted the 21-term congressman’s triumphs, from being a decorated hero of the Korean War to serving as chairman of the powerful committee.
Rangel, 81, said he was “moved” and noted that the ceremony sounded a little like a eulogy.
“I just want people to know that if something happens to me, this is no substitute for the funeral,” he joked.
Only Rangel mentioned the ethics scandal that forced him to step down as chairman in March 2010 and that led to his censure last December.
“Anybody who wants to ask anything about the ethics committee — I’m not saying anything. So I can’t wait to see how the New York Post handles it,” he told a packed room.
Later, Rangel told reporters that he wasn’t going to talk about whether his portrait gracing the walls of the committee room gave him a sense of “vindication.”
Rangel has always insisted that he had done nothing wrong.
The House voted 333-79 on Dec. 2 to censure Rangel, making him the first congressman in 27 years to endure the humiliating rebuke.
An ethics panel convicted Rangel on 11 of 12 charges after a probe found a “pattern” of rule-breaking, including dodging taxes, concealing assets and misusing his post to raise money for the City College center that bears his name — all first reported by The Post.