House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) paid lawyers $576,880 in the last three months of 2009 as he contended with multifaceted ethics committee investigations into his personal finances and other dealings.In October, Rangel reported spending $255,000 on legal bills in the third quarter of 2009, and his total tab for last year was already more than $1 million by the end of September. The latest bill pushes Rangel’s legal expenses for all of 2009 well over $1.5 million.The Washington, D.C., firm Zuckerman Spaeder has received the bulk of the payments.Throughout 2009, House Republicans demanded Rangel step aside as chairman of Ways and Means amid the investigations. Rangel also faces potential Democratic primary challenges in New York. Rangel called for an ethics committee investigation into the allegations against him in July 2008.