Pelosi says Rangel ethics finding "not good"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that ethics findings against fellow Democrat Charles Rangel, the top tax writer in the U.S. Congress, were "not good," but stopped short of calling for his resignation.

Pelosi told ABC television's "This Week" that she did not want to "interfere in a political way" when asked if Rangel should step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. She urged patience until the bipartisan House ethics committee issued its full recommendations.

"The fact is, is that what Mr. Rangel has been admonished for is not good," Pelosi said in an interview to be aired on Sunday. "It was a violation of the rules of the House. It was not something that jeopardized our country in any way."

She said she hoped the committee finished its work soon, but acknowledged the panel was independent and worked at its own pace.

Excerpts of the interview were released Friday evening.

Rangel, a New York lawmaker, said Thursday he was admonished by the ethics committee for taking corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean, a finding he said defied "common sense."

Quoting from his copy of the report, Rangel said it found he did not know the trips in 2007 and 2008 were underwritten by corporations, but that two of his staffers did.

Republicans seized on the Rangel report to criticize Pelosi, saying it made a mockery of her pledge to run the most ethical Congress in history.

Representative Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Democratic leadership of the House, said it would be "disproportionate" to the panel's findings if Rangel stepped down.

"This ethics committee on a bipartisan basis said that he did not knowingly violate any rule. He is repaying the cost of a trip and the other issues remain under review and they need to render judgment expeditiously," Van Hollen said.

The ethics panel, composed of three Democrats and three Republicans, is still looking into other matters, including Rangel's use of a rent-controlled apartment and his fundraising for a public service center in New York City.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Peter Cooney)