Titus returns donation from Rangel

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Dina Titus returned a $1,000 donation from Rep. Charles Rangel after the powerful committee chairman was disciplined by the House Ethics Committee last week, a Titus spokesman said Tuesday.

The money was returned via check over the weekend, within days after the ethics panel formally admonished Rangel, D-N.Y., for taking two corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean, spokesman Andrew Stoddard said.

"We were aware that (Titus) had received a contribution from Rangel but in our system you are innocent until proved otherwise," Stoddard said. "Once it came down from the Ethics Committee that there was a violation, we took the steps to return the money."

Titus, D-Nev., was flying from Las Vegas to Washington on Tuesday and was not available for comment.

Rangel donated $1,000 to Titus in August from his "Rangel for Congress" election fund, according to the Federal Election Commission.

During the 2008 campaign that saw Titus win a House seat from Republican Jon Porter, Rangel gave her a total $14,000 in four donations , according to the FEC.

Titus did not consider refunding money from the 2008 election as that cycle has been closed and those funds were spent and gone, Stoddard said.

Titus' decision to return the current donation came as Republicans moved to capitalize on Rangel's ethics problems by challenging dozens of Democrats who have accepted contributions from him.

Rangel, the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and a 39-year House veteran, has supported scads of fellow Democrats over the years. The National Republican Congressional Committee targeted 71 of them in a series of press releases that started going out Friday.

Rangel, 79, was found to have violated House gift rules in taking trips to Antigua in 2007 and St. Maarten in 2008 that were paid for by a foundation linked to a newspaper in the region.

He said he got clearance from the Ethics Committee for the travel, not knowing who was paying for it. The Ethics Committee said his staff knew but did not tell him, but he ultimately was responsible.

House Republicans plan to introduce a resolution seeking for Rangel to be removed as Ways and Means chairman.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she has no plans to do so, noting the Ethics Committee found Rangel "did not knowingly violate the rules," and that it has not completed its other investigations of his conduct.