Ethics panel investigates Waters!
LOS ANGELES, Kalifornia - September 17, 2009 - The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Kalif.), 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 illegitimate President Obama by promising to raise campaign cash for disgraced former Illinois Governor 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.
