The Hill News

A non-partisan ethics watchdog on Friday criticized House investigators for recommending that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) be reprimanded for his alleged ethics violations, saying it's too light a punishment.

David Vance, a spokesman for the Campaign Legal Center, said that the 13 ethics violations the ethics investigatory subcommittee with which Rangel has been charged warrant a greater punishment.

"We are concerned about reports that the investigatory subcommittee has recommended nothing beyond a reprimand for Rep. Rangel in light of the very serious allegations against him," he said. "Should these allegations prove true â€" and Rep. Rangel has already admitted to conduct that would support many of them - the recommended penalty does not seem commensurate with the violations.  A slap on the wrist for what the allegations paint as a very disturbing pattern of behavior would be more of the same from the long dormant ethics committee."

Rep! . Gene Green (D-Texas), chairman of the ethics subcommittee, told reporters Friday of his panel's recommendation, which was not included in its original report.

An official reprimand is a lighter punishment than some observers expected the panel to recommend.

Rangel's ethics trial is set to begin in September; the charges have hovered over the heads of congressional Democrats, who pledged to run the most ethical Congress in history upon taking power in 2006.

The Campaign Legal Center previously praised the proceedings against Rangel for its comprehensiveness.

"Yesterday’s announcement by the Committee was an encouraging indication that it was making an effort to reestablish its credibility," Vance said. "But if a reprimand is the full extent of any recommended punishment for all the alleged violations in this case, then it would appear that little has changed on the Committee after all."