LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 18, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

'Left, Right & Center': The White House Scandal Trifecta

Wall St. Banks

Benghazi Talking Points

Googleland: Coming Soon to a Country Near You

Letter From Birmingham Jail

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * Chilling: Arctic Tundra ‘Will Turn to Forest’
How the IRS’ Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional
Recurring Nightmares? Wake Up and Take Action

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals
The Girls of Atomic City

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Another Prominent Democrat Faces Ethics Charges

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on Aug 2, 2010
house.gov

Rep. Maxine Waters, a stalwart progressive voice in the House for nearly 20 years, is defending herself against charges that she improperly intervened to help bail out a bank with ties to her husband. Waters released a statement denying any wrongdoing, saying she was merely working on behalf of minority banks.

The complaint against Waters comes as another veteran Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Charlie Rangel, mounts his own ethics defense.

Waters’ full press release is here.

Los Angeles Times:

In accusing Rep. Maxine Waters (D- Los Angeles) of violating House ethics rules, congressional investigators have focused on a meeting she arranged with Treasury officials that they say centered on the fortunes of a single bank — one with ties to her husband.

Three months after Waters called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to set up the meeting during the financial crisis, OneUnited Bank received $12 million in bailout funds.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:57 pm Link to this comment

bury the damn hatchet and come help me out

ardee !!!!!!!!!!!!

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:54 pm Link to this comment

We sure don’t make the discussion about race

when a white politician gets caught with an ethics

violation and their hands in the till, do we, ROY ???

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:36 pm Link to this comment

You, Roy, are turning this into a racial
discussion and it has nothing to do with race,

but a whole lot about ethics.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:28 pm Link to this comment

Maxine Waters never was a progressive….....
she labeled herself a progressive.

There are only about three progressives on Capitol hill

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:26 pm Link to this comment

I am not taking up for Maxine Waters perse, Roy.

I called her a phoney person on these threads long
before these accusations came out,

I am just saying, what she got caught at,  every
one on Capitol Hill is guilty of.

Including the the Rupublicans that you never seem to
mention.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 9:06 pm Link to this comment

Damn right Roy she plays the race card,

but you great distortions in your analysis.

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 8:40 pm Link to this comment

So this brings up a interesting question? Probably, the two dumbest politicians off all time are Pete Stark and Maxine Waters? OK, we all agree on that. They both represent California? Yes. Califorinia is going bankrupt? Yes. Does anyone see a pattern here? Oh, yea. Does everyone think that the Communist (I mean Liberal) press will be having a story on Pete soon? Don’t hold your breath.

Congressman Pete Stark, a Democrat from Fremont, California went to a constituent meeting which was attended predominantly by people who were concerned about illegal immigration. Many citizens at the meeting had Hispanic surnames and quite a few of the people who spoke asked questions in accented English, indicating that approving of legal immigration and wanting our nation’s immigration laws enforced are separate issues.
What was especially interesting was Stark’s assertion during the question and answer session that “Our borders are quite secure, Thank you.”
The video, posted on Breitbart News showed Pete Stark taunting questioners, asking at one point “Who are you going to kill today?” Stark answered one questioner, apparently from the Minutemen, by sarcastically suggesting that there be more Minutemen.
Stark then asked one citizen in a mocking way how he would seal the border. When the man suggested building a wall, Congressman Stark then made a foolish joke about “selling a lot of ladders”.
Is Stark really so unversed in the legalities and logistics of border security and illegal immigration? He is a Congressman from a border state. Even as a committed partisan on an issue, Pete Stark owes common respect and civility to his constituents. Pete Stark has served 38 years in Congress. Such conduct as was caught on video and posted online shows a remarkable lack of respect for the people of his district.
Then at the next meeting, it is painfully clear from this latest clip of California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark at last town hall meeting that he has no idea what the hell E-Verify — the federal employer citizenship verification program — is. Nor does he seem to care what it is, as he smirks at his informed constituents and asserts that denying jobs to illegal aliens could be “unconstitutional.”It you go to “You Tube” the endless Pete Stark Raving Mad video marathon goes on forever.
Perhaps the people of Fremont, California should remember Congressman Stark’s sarcasm and condescension in November when he is running for reelection. What a piece of work this guy is. So condescending and disrespectful. This idiot MUST be voted out of office. The DemocRAT party is flipping off the American people. What are we going to do about it? The California voters are some of the dumbest voters in America? They continue to vote in (for decades) the same OLD faces with the same OLD policies that have brought down this state. It is TRAGIC. That’s why we have pieces of vomit like Pete Stark in office.

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 8:10 pm Link to this comment

Say, you don’t think Maxine would play the race card, do you?

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 7:59 pm Link to this comment

Oh, my God, These poor people. Their “Progressive dream is flushing down the toilet and they can’t “understand” whats’ happening. Hundreds of thousands are leaving “Babylon” California like rats on a sinking ship. Could it be that they don’t want their children around the illegal gangs, the pornography, the violent video games, the Satanic music industry, the failing schools, the failing politics? Shall I go on? No, thats not what their worried about. They’re worried about the lie they are living. Welcome to the “Anointed Ones” New World Order, baby. Hey, nice tan

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 7:56 pm Link to this comment

Combined with high unemployment, rising homelessness, an awful economy, early prison release and a very low chance of getting sent to prison crime can be expected to rise significantly. There will need to be layoffs and a certain amount of jobs cut from the public sector within the states, cities and counties. Many of these people were and are Obama supporters but they will sour fast when they lose their jobs in the midst of this depression with awful prospects for work.

Thirty-four states already cut higher education aid and twenty-five states already reduced grade school aid. Twenty-Seven states have reduced health care benefits for low-income people. Twenty-six states have hiring freezes. Twenty-two states have lowered employee’‘s wages. Thirteen states have announced layoffs. Federal aid to the states has already being reduced. The worst is yet to come. 2010 will bring the loss of many jobs in public sector as well as the private sector. Experts say any chance of a turn around will be best case in 2011 and possibly much later with 2010 looking bleak.
The bankruptcies should happen in 2010 and many of the other problems have already begun. In 2010, 37 Governors face re-election and 46 states will chose their legislatures. The reality is to keep the states spending budgets up; taxes will have to be increased. When you have a lot of people out of work and a lot of failed businesses this means big tax hikes and raising taxes for those able to survive in a down economy is just going to make it harder for them to make it in the long run. Of course out of work people are short term oriented and can care less about down the road.
Things look like the politicians are going to try and run with upside down budgets but they will run out of money and then have to make some hard choices when they are up against the wall. In a state with high unemployment, who is going to vote for a politician who says we need to pull our belts in and run with a balanced budget and a sound economic policy and this will mean spending cuts and job cuts. Now the politician who says well we need to make jobs, extend unemployment benefits, send the kids to school and college, keep the medical aid coming, and keep the spending up is going to get elected. Then when the spenders get elected what are they going to do?
A study, conducted by the Pew Center on the States, found that California, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are among the most bankrupt states in the country. The only ones not run top-to-bottom by Democrats were Arizona, Florida and Nevada…all of which have huge illegal immigration problems.

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 7:50 pm Link to this comment

Progressives destroyed the bottom rung of the ladder of economic success by corrupting a public school system in which half of the students never graduate and half of those wo do are fundamentally illiterate. Every major inner city in America from, Chicago, Detroit, Oakland, St. Louis, every school board and school district, every city council in those inner cities is 100% controlled bt the Democrat Party and progressives and has been for 100 years. Everything that is wrong with the inner cities of America that policy can affect Democrats and progressives are responsible for. They have their boot heels on the necks of poor black and hispanic children all across America and are crushing them every day.
The Democratic Party and Progressivism is the most powerful force obstructing opportunity for America’s poor and minority. It oppresses them with their creation of the modern welfare state. Progressives engineered a welfare system that destroyed the inner city black family and created a vast “under-class” so mired in the culture of dependency and povert that they may never escpae.

Progressives are the most racist bunch of monsters in history. Margret Sanger is the champion of the progressives. She was such a nasty racist with her evil eugenics programs. Hitler modeled his eugenics programs on the American Progressive Eugenics Movement of the early 20th century. Her whole purpose for abortion was to rid society of what she called the less desirable minorities. Her legacy lives on in the racist fact that children of color are the victims of 2/3 of all the abortions committed since Roe v Wade. Black women, who make up only 12% of the population have had over 40% of the abortions ever committed. They are nearly 4 times more likely than their caucasion counterparts to get abortion, just as progressive darling Margret Sanger planned.

For decades now, the ‘progressives’ (liberals or ‘The Left’) in our country have been propelled by two powerful influences: Saul Alinsky and Cloward and Piven. (Of course, Marx and Engels figure in, too, but why state the obvious?) In 1966, Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven authored an article in “The Nation” magazine that has been followed as closely as a blueprint by organizations such as ACORN and, dare I say, the Democrat Party (at least the present-day incarnation of the Democrat Party). Incredibly, we are seeing the fruits of that seditious strategy in the news everyday. And I say ‘seditious’ advisedly, because the end result will be the capitulation of our national sovereignty and way of life to those who seek to control us and rule over us.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 6:13 pm Link to this comment

Oh how I wish that Waters and Obama were Socialists.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 6:09 pm Link to this comment

Roy,  you write to many well constructed sentences
and paragraphs for me to believe that you are another
one of the clowns that believe OBAMA is a SOCIALIST.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 5:53 pm Link to this comment

In your California,

The Oakland Cop that got away with murder of
a black man….....what do you call him??????

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 5:47 pm Link to this comment

However Roy,  I have more respect for you than most

of these “DO GOODER” posters on here….

ARDEE,  is the only other one on Truth Dig that will

challenge your one sided crap.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 5:40 pm Link to this comment

All these Imperialist Capitolists are going to try

to pin the word SOCIALISM with all the corruption on

Capitol Hill,  and socialists have never, never, ever

had any influence at all in our government, unfortunatly.

Gonna take us back the the McCARTY era Roy???????

Report this

By ofersince72, August 7, 2010 at 5:37 pm Link to this comment

It figures that you would take Water’s illegality

and strap the word SOCIALIST to it CALL ME   ROY…


  However bad she is, and we do agree on that…

She is an imperialist through, and through…

nice try Roy….......
By the way Roy,,,,,there are as many if not more
corrupt REPUBLICANS on Capitol Hill as any.
Are they Socialists toooo.??????????

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 5:23 pm Link to this comment

Maxine’s most famous “braindead” moment has to be when she said to the president of Shell Oil during a House hearing: “And guess what this member* would be all about? This member would be all about socializing — er, uh. [Pauses for several moments] …. would be about … [pause] … basically … taking over, and the government running all of your companies.” As soon as the word “socialization” exits her lips, she knows she made a big blunder, not the least of which is that the actual term is “nationalization”. Waters just declared a socialist policy of total confiscation in the House hearing room, and she looks for an exit strategy, finally winding up with the slightly more ambiguous idea of Washington “running” the oil companies. Two people in the background try mightily to stifle laughter at Waters’ predicament.
It is easy to watch this yourself, just google: Maxine Waters comments at Shell Oil House hearing.

Poor California

Report this

By call me roy, August 7, 2010 at 5:21 pm Link to this comment

Theres a reason why she earned the name Maxine “Dirty” Waters out here in California. Here is a prime example why. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.,
She helped steered millions of dollars in bailout funds to a bank on whose board her husband served. The bank also didn’t appear to meet the requirements for receiving the money. Waters, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, arranged a meeting in September between Treasury officials and the chief executive of OneUnited, one of the country’s largest black-owned banks, which requested $50 million in special bailout funds. Waters pressured Treasury officials to bail out the minority-owned bank whose executives have donated heavily to her political campaigns. At the time she and her husband, Sidney Williams, held big financial stakes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in One United and her husband had just been the bank’s director and still served on its board. The conflict was so blatant that even the scandal-plagued chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, her good buddy Barney Frank, urged Waters to “stay out of it,” assuring her that he would see to it that her precious bank got bailout money. Earlier this year Judicial Watch uncovered documents that Congress, especially Frank, for years ignored corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so it’s not surprising that he took no action when Waters ignored his suggestion. The One United case was hardly the first time that Waters, California’s most influential black lawmaker, used her political clout to benefit her family financially. In 2004 Waters’ hometown newspaper reported that her relatives made more than $1 million by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that the well-connected and powerful congresswoman had helped. Waters has also made international headlines for her frequent trips to communist Cuba to visit her convicted cop-assassin friend, Joanne Chesimard, who is also known by her Black Panther name of Assata Shakur. Chesimard was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted by a jury of the 1979 murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. With the help of fellow cult members, she escaped from jail and fled to Cuba.

Report this

By Breathtaking Hypocrisy from Congress, August 3, 2010 at 7:45 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Wow! Reading these comments makes me realize why our bought-and-paid-for Congress has no fear of being laughed out of office when they have the gall to charge one of their own for either doing favors for others without taking huge quantities of cash in return (Waters) or enriching themselves without offering choice legislation in exchange (Rangel).  There is only one way to play the Washington bribery scam, formerly known as the legislative process, and that is to take money for preferential legislative treatment. All others will be punished.

Why now?  Just maybe, this is a preemptive attack on wavering Congressional representatives who might vote against the Obama social security slashes coming after the election.

Interesting that Americans prefer to race-bait and hate targets selected for them by the oligarchs rather than stand up for the few Congressional representatives who have worked on their behalf so tirelessly for so many years.  As a SS contributor, I resent these ignorant attacks.

Report this

By bobloisl, August 3, 2010 at 6:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

These charges are totally trumped up, Maxine Waters was above board on everything.

And guess who heads OCE?  Porter Goss.  Wasn’t he head of a drug pushing agency?  Of course he hates Waters.

Report this

By ardee, August 3, 2010 at 2:46 am Link to this comment

And every time I hear somebody like Maxine Waters (Moron-CA) open her piehole and start rambling in barely articulate mumblings, I can only shake my head in disbelief that these people are leading our country.

Every time I read a post from this Faux Snooze parrot I am reminded of why our system has become as corrupted and unrepresentative of its citizenry as it has. We are getting the type of governance we deserve apparently, what with mindless and emotional ravings like this ones.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 2, 2010 at 9:54 pm Link to this comment

Call Me Roy…

  I take it you feel the same about all the lame
Republicans that are on capitiol hill also…

  For few sound any dumber Louie Gohmert, Tom Coburn,
Mitchy, et.al.

Report this

By robert puglia, August 2, 2010 at 7:02 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

i am delighted to see this harridan ahoist of her own
petard. she is louder than she is honest.

Report this

By call me roy, August 2, 2010 at 6:03 pm Link to this comment

Maxine Waters has been an embarrassment and a detriment for the longest time. Her now famous praise of Franklin Raines running of Fannie Mae should say enough to most folks.
Waters always looks to be an accuser or a finger pointer so that she can say to here constituants that she is their champion. Well, Waters is no champion. She championed the lending practices that led us to where we are. Her lines of questioning and clarifications in these exchanges are legendary and a constant source of something to laugh at.
California has Waters, Boxer, and Pelosi all as high ranking members of government. That is an SNL skit that could go on forever!
Maxine Waters has always been dumber than the proverbial bag of rocks.
Behold the intellectual brainpower that our Congress puts in charge of our money. Do you really want someone like this in charge of your healthcare?
Cut the size of government now. Start HERE.
Everyone knows that Maxine Waters is dumber than a house plant. In fact, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not just a possibility — it’s a fact. And every time I hear somebody like Maxine Waters (Moron-CA) open her piehole and start rambling in barely articulate mumblings, I can only shake my head in disbelief that these people are leading our country.

Report this

By ofersince72, August 2, 2010 at 4:48 pm Link to this comment

Yes ,  Waters is a true blue Dem,

In 2007, I called her office on several occasions
wondering why she was voting on supplemental war funding
without withdrawal timetables
  This is the reason so many showed up at the polls in
2006, to change the majority so we would withdraw from
Iraq.

  Her chief of Staff informed me,  ,,that U.S. interests
in the Middle East out weighed bringing the troops home
and that America is the most powerful nation in the world
and we will get and do what we want…
This is almost verbatum what Waters office told me.
So , yes a true blue dem,  same as a true blue pub.

Report this

By wil, August 2, 2010 at 3:29 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Obama is a disaster for both the Democratic Party and America.  He seems to be a stealth Republican whose mission is to destroy both while playing the smoothed tone good guy.

Waters and Rangel are true blue Democrats—old line, true Democrats.

Report this

By America, August 2, 2010 at 3:06 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Who are you going to believe, Maxine Waters or your lying eyes?!?  Watch!

Why Waters (and others of all colors) need to be out of Washington DC for being stupid or in jail for being unethical - or worse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.