Censure Is So 2010: Rangel Files for Reelection

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York, speaks to constituents in 2010 / AP ((c) Fox News Network 2010)

New York Rep. Charlie Rangel's peers leveled eleven counts of ethics violations charges against him last year, but the 80-year old Democrat is signaling his marathon political career isn't over yet.

Rangel filed papers on Monday to run for a 22nd term serving the New York district he's represented since 1970, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The longtime congressman won reelection in November despite a then-ongoing House ethics committee investigation that stripped the New York Democrat of his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and cost him some $2 million in legal fees. He was ultimately censured for multiple violations, including a failure to pay income taxes, misusing a rent-controlled New York apartment as a campaign office, and abusing congressional perks.

And President Obama indicated during the heat of the investigation last summer that it was time for Rangel to bring his congressional career to a close. "I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served his constituents very well, but these allegations are very troubling," he said in an interview. "He is somebody who is at the end of his career, 80 years old. I'm sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity, and my hope is that it happens."

Rangel has not publicly announced that he will seek reelection, but has acknowledged his age in recent interviews, even mentioning potential successors to his long-held seat. "I do realize I'm 80 years old," he told the New York Daily News in December.