Like this will go anywhere.





 
 
 
 

 



   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
   
   


       







       
       
       
       

       
   
       
   
       
   
 
   
       

       
           

           

House ethics panel investigates Rep. Maxine Waters

           
               

The Los Angeles congresswoman faces scrutiny over her husband's ties to a bank that received federal bailout funds.

Reporting from Washington -
The
House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los
Angeles), who has come under scrutiny because of her husband's ties to
a bank that received federal bailout funds.





The panel's
chairwoman and ranking member announced the committee was extending by
45 days a determination on whether it would conduct a more thorough
review of Waters' conduct, but they declined to say what was being
investigated. Waters, one of Los Angeles' most enduring liberal
politicians, also declined to comment.





Word of the investigation
came as the committee announced that it was delaying an inquiry into
whether Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) or his representatives tried
to secure the Senate seat vacated by President Obama by promising to
raise campaign cash for disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod R.
Blagojevich. The panel cited an ongoing federal investigation in
Chicago.





Both matters were referred to the committee, evenly
divided between Democratic and Republican lawmakers, by the Office of
Congressional Ethics, created by the House last year in response to
criticism that lawmakers have been reluctant to vigorously investigate
their own. The new office –– which can initiate reviews of alleged
misconduct on its own or in response to allegations brought to its
attention by the public –– refers matters to the committee if it
determines they warrant further investigation.





Waters was in the
spotlight earlier this year because Massachusetts-based OneUnited Bank
received $12 million in bailout funds, three months after the
congresswoman, a senior member of the congressional committee that
oversees banking, helped arrange a meeting between officials of the
bank and other minority-owned financial institutions and Treasury
Department representatives.





Waters' husband, Sidney Williams,
served on the bank board until early last year and held at least
$350,000 in investments in the bank last year, according to the
congresswoman's most recent financial disclosure report.





Waters
defended her efforts as in keeping with her longtime work to promote
opportunity for minority-owned businesses and lending in underserved
communities. She said that OneUnited received bailout funds based on
the merits of its request, not political influence, and she said that
she had disclosed her husband's ties to the bank.





In its
announcement on Jackson, the ethics panel made public for the first
time allegations that he used his congressional staff in Chicago and
Washington to mount a "public campaign" for the open seat in possible
violation of federal law and House rules.





The Justice Department
asked the committee to hold off from pursuing a full-blown inquiry of
Jackson until after Blagojevich's trial, scheduled for next year,
saying it would "pose a significant risk of interfering with the
pending criminal proceedings and ongoing investigation."





Blagojevich
was indicted on federal corruption charges in April. Jackson's name
first surfaced in December after Blagojevich's arrest, with the
then-governor secretly recorded saying that an emissary from Jackson
had offered to raise $1 million for Blagojevich's reelection campaign
if he appointed Jackson to the Senate seat that eventually went to
Roland W. Burris.





Jackson has denied any wrongdoing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-waters-ethics17-2009sep17,0,1271818.story
 

Did they check her freezer?

This is clearly racially-motivated. [/sarcasm]

Well, I'm sure they will move quickly on this in a fair & impartial manner, just like they did with Charlie Rangel.

Oh, nevermind...

Isolated incident.

Ya, isolated to the CONgress and whitehouse.



 

I'm surprised they haven't found the charges baseless and biased yet.

 

That's racist!!

Pure and simple....

they'll walk  gulty or no...

It is impossible for her to be guilty of anything.



If she is guilty of something it is because YOU ARE A RACIST.