The Scum Rises In The East: Maxine Waters Charged With Ethics Violations

This has been coming for quite a while.

Congresswoman 'No Justice No Peace' (her catch phrase during th eRodney King riots in Los Angeles) has long been known as someone who went into government to do good and did real well for herself. But as a veteran Democrat and a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus, she's always been pretty invulnerable.

What's happened is that she just finally got a bit too blatant out of familiarity and contempt, just like Charlie Rangel.

Here's what went down.

Back in September of 2008, Waters lobbied for TARP funds for OneUnited Bank, under the guise of it being part of an association of minority controlled banks.

Waters' husband Sidney Williams had been a board member of OneUnited from 2004 to 2008 and was and still is a stockholder.

After the meetings with Treasury officials that Waters arranged, OneUnited got $12.1 million in TARP funds.Meanwhile, Treasury officials testified that they never knew of her personal ties to OneUnited.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, who investigated what happened found that "there is a substantial reason to believe" that Waters violated House ethics rules by arranging the meetings and not disclosing her personal financial interest. Waters says that the meetings were held on behalf of the National Bankers Association, a trade group representing minority-owned banks. While that's technically correct, the OCE found in its investigation that "the discussion at the meeting centered on a single bank-- OneUnited."

Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee is apparently also involved and may have helped drop a dime on Waters. Frank, who is identified in the OCE report as "Representative A".

According to the OCE report, Waters spoke to Frank about OneUnited's problems.

"Representative Waters told Representative A that she was in a predicament because her husband had been involved in the bank, but 'OneUnited people' were coming to her for help," the report states. "According to Representative A, she knew she should say no, but it bothered her. It was clear to Representative A that this was a 'conflict of interest problem.'"

Frank says he told Waters to 'stay out of it' and then asked his staff to take over the OneUnited issue from Waters.

The report adds: "Representative A had at least two conversations with Representative Waters in which he told her to not get involved in the OneUnited matter."

If you read between the lines,what likely happened is that Waters felt that Frank either wasn't moving quickly enough or decisively enough for her taste, so she decided to move on it herself.

Needless to say, with both Waters and Charlie Rangel being brought up on charges, the race card is definitely being played:

The question of whether black lawmakers are now being singled out for scrutiny has been simmering throughout the 111th Congress, with the Office of Congressional Ethics a focal point of the concerns. At one point earlier this year, all eight lawmakers under formal investigation by the House ethics committee, including Rangel and Waters, were black Democrats. All those investigations originated with the OCE, which can make recommendations — but takes no final actions — on such cases.

There’s a “dual standard, one for most members and one for African-Americans,” said one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

You betcha.

I'm not surprised Waters opted for a trial, after seeing that all Rangel is facing is a 'reprimand'.

Why not? Nothing will happen until after the midterms and like Rangel she can stop the trial any time by simply confessing to the charges and taking a wrist slap during the lame duck period, when the Democrats will still control Congress.

Obama, Pelosi and company didn't drain the swamp in DC..they stocked it with a bunch of contemptuous and very greedy alligators.

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