"They do their business and I do mine," said Waters, 66. "We are not bad people."
Posted on 12/19/2004 10:12:34 AM PST by wagglebee
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters' family members earned more than $1 million over the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that she helped, according to a newspaper report Sunday.
Waters' daughter and son pocketed fees from campaigns endorsed by the congresswoman's election mailers while her husband worked for a bond underwriting firm seeking government business from her political allies, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Waters, an influential lawmaker who has represented Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena and parts of Los Angeles since 1990, declined to answer detailed questions, insisting her family's fortunes were kept apart from her political activities.
"They do their business and I do mine," said Waters, 66. "We are not bad people."
The Waters' close financial ties are not expressly prohibited by state laws or congressional ethics rules.
According to the Times, Waters and her children are linked through a political organization that publishes an election mailer listing campaigns she endorsed. Some candidates are included free of charge, though others pay tens of thousands of dollars.
Of the $1.7 million L.A. Vote collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Karen Waters and her consulting firm, public disclosure reports show. About $115,000 was paid to the congresswoman's son.
Karen Waters, 46, said she and her mother kept their business dealings separate. Her son, Edward Waters, 49, a high school basketball coach and political consultant, declined to comment.
Waters' children have also landed consulting work with the mailer's advertisers, including former 1998 gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi and Indian tribes.
Campaign consultants for the tribes, whose interests and ballot measures Waters has consistently backed, said Karen Waters was hired on her merits. "We didn't hire her because of her mom," said consultant Chuck Winner.
Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, has made nearly $500,000 as a consultant to a municipal bond company and lobbying politicians his wife supports, according to public records.
The 62-year-old former professional football linebacker and U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas said Waters complied with public disclosure laws, but declined further comment.
The Times reported that Williams helped the firm win a $40 million school bond sale approved by school board members that paid Waters' mailer operation to advertise her endorsement.
With his assistance, the company also secured a $424 million bond deal to build a prison in Delano after successfully pitching the office of state Treasurer Philip Angelides.
Angelides, who has been regularly listed in Waters' mailers, said in a statement that his decisions are based solely "on the advice of the professional staff."
Bond underwriter Siebert, Brandford & Shank hired Williams for his own connections and not those of his wife, according to Napoleon Brandford III, the firm's chairman and co-owner.
And Harold Ford Jr. and his father before him.
Unfortunately we have Water's clone here in Texas, Shiela Jackson. I suppose when the people that elect these nitwits and criminals finally realize that these elects are not going to do anything in their best interest, maybe they will get the hint and elect someone who really will do the honest thing.
You nailed it.
One of the most despicable human beings on the planet. She is as much a waste of oxygen as anyone on California's death row.
Yes, but the Viking Kitties are FEARLESS!
A mere Johnny-come-lately, Al Gore did it first and better:
"No controlling legal authority!"
Now there's a combo that you don't see too often.
Hey now, don't you remember Rush Limbaugh making fun of midnight basketball during the Clinton years?
Pure BS.....She was hired because of who her mother is.
C'mon now, this has to be lie of the year!
Exactly WHO is going to pursue a criminal investigation of Maxine Waters?
The same DoJ that yawns about Sandy Berger walking off with classified documents in his pants? The same DoJ that yawns about CBS's attempt to fix a Presidential election using forged military memos?
Nothing will happen. It's just another yawner.
Whoever even tried would be completely destroyed by the press and liberal activist groups (redundant, I know) as a racist.
"Her son, Edward Waters, 49, a high school basketball coach and political consultant,"
Now there is a combination you don't see every day....political consultant by day....basketball coach by night. Only in America.
Let's do the math on this. Her son is 49 years old, and Maxine is 66. So, she conceived her first spawn at the age of 14?
She would have been 17. And spawn is a good word for her....lol
Al Sharpton, that starr jones woman, now Maxine waters. They just love getting things that aren't earned.
Wasn't ol' NAG hag Maxine one of the chief whiners complaining about "the man" wanting to investigate mismanagement of funds at the King-Drew Medical Center?? They better start investigating HER -- maybe she was getting some under-the-table money from there, too.
Yes, Waters' husband's travel-agent connection was reported back when Cuba was a hot topic on FR during the Elian Gonzalez fiasco.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.