The NY Times has this report on a finding by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that Rep. Charlie Rangel violated House gift rules by accepting payment or reimbursement for a Caribbean trip. A statement from the Chair and ranking minority member of the committee may be found here. According to that statement, Rep. Rangel is being publicly admonished because his he “is responsible for the knowledge and actions of his staff,” who knew that corporations had contributed funds for the conferences he was attending. The committee also finds that six other members attended the trip, but were exonerated of wrongdoing because they were “provided false information by others, and relied upon that information in seeking approval to accept the trips.”