The New York Times has an editorial about Maxine Waters:
Last summer the House Ethics Committee accused Representative Maxine Waters of bringing discredit on Congress by helping to secure a government bailout for a troubled bank where her husband held stock and had been a director. Ms. Waters, a California Democrat, angrily denied the charge and demanded a public hearing.
Nothing has happened since, except key committee investigators were placed on administrative leave. The public needs to know the full story: Has Ms. Waters violated ethics rules or worse? Did the investigators make a major error? Or did someone want them muzzled?
The public record does not look good for Ms. Waters. A recent report by The Washington Post found that federal bank examiners had complained to superiors of political interference, and called the bailout of Boston-based OneUnited Bank “a travesty of justice.”
Examiners found that the bank’s chairman had rendered it insolvent through bad investments and lavish personal spending. Representative Waters arranged a Treasury Department meeting attended largely by officials from OneUnited, according to investigators. Soon after, the bank won a $12 million bailout.
The Ethics Committee charged that Ms. Waters used her office improperly; that, while she had been cautioned not to get involved by Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, she did not stop her chief of staff from continuing to seek assistance.
Ms. Waters insists that she sought the meeting with Treasury officials to help not just OneUnited, but all minority-owned banks sideswiped by the financial crisis. The reputation of the bipartisan Ethics Committee can only sink lower if the case continues to drift.
Rico says lessee, she's black and she's a woman; any surprise Congress doesn't want to be seen attacking her?
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