Posted on 09/20/2012 11:43:26 AM PDT by jazusamo
The House Ethics Committee will hold a public hearing Friday on ethics allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
The panel has been investigating for the past three years whether Waters violated House rules by attempting to secure federal help during the financial crisis for a bank in which her husband owns stock.
Waters has maintained her innocence, and the ethics probe has been weighted by problems.
As the committee moved toward holding a trial for Waters in late 2010, it halted its work abruptly and placed two of its lead attorneys on administrative leave. Shortly afterward, the committees chief counsel stepped down.
The first half of 2011 was spent in a flurry of firing and reorganizing among the panels investigative and legal staff, which included the hiring of a new chief counsel.
In July, the committee announced it was hiring outside attorney Billy Martin to investigate whether members and staff on the panel had acted inappropriately in the Waters case.
Martin spent nearly $1 million reviewing more than 100,000 pages of documents and conducting 26 interviews with people involved, including every member of the committee and the panels investigative subcommittee in the 111th Congress.
He eventually determined that the committee was not guilty of any wrongdoing and that Waters' rights were not violated.
The committee has not made Martins entire report public, despite multiple pleas from Waters, her House colleagues, and watchdog groups, who have also complained about the unusually long time it has taken the secretive panel to complete its investigation of the California Democrat.
Waters has maintainede that she deserved to have a speedy trial, such as guaranteed in the criminal judicial process under the Sixth Amendment. But the committee said that the amendment does not apply to committee proceedings and that lawmakers under investigation by the panel do not have the same rights as a criminal defendants, in this regard.
The timing of the hearing has raised some eyebrows. Waters holds a relatively safe congressional seat, but with less than seven weeks before Election Day the committees decision could influence voters before they head to the polls. Waters is also next in line to take over as Democratic head of the House Financial Services Committee, and a guilty verdict could jeopardize her ascension.
Very surprising...Waters will scream racism to high heaven but will be reelected and the corruption will continue.
I want this commie gone. One of the worst people ever to take a seat in congress.
She is in a member v. member, ( and because of California’s new jungle primary rule) a Dem v. Dem congressional race. The Dems want her to lose..she’s crazy..so they are going along with this..hope she loses..
II thought they already gave up on this evil skank last year. I’d love to see her do time, or at least get fired.
Hope they send her packing also.
Waters has maintainede that she deserved to have a speedy trial, such as guaranteed in the criminal judicial process under the Sixth Amendment. But the committee said that the amendment does not apply to committee proceedings....
&&&&
Gee, even I knew that. Wonder why this brilliant member of Congress doesn’t.....
Yep, she’s brilliant but it seems she’s the only one who knows it, she and Cynthia could be sisters. LOL!
Will she appear in a wheelchair, wearing a quilt and complain that it’s cold in here.
Am beginning to get the feel that the regular dems are pretty much fed up with these race-baiters and super-libs. They could be beginning a battle to take back the old dem party similar to our GOPe fight, Lord knows they need to even worse than the GOP.
When nobama takes the Mother of All beatings, they may see their opening.
Either way, we’re going to hear her fat ugly mouth screeching tomorrow.
Black democrat politicians are supposed to be able to use their positions to enrich themselves and their friends.
It’s an entitlement due to the legacy of slavery.
To hold them to the same ethical standards as black conservatives or any white politician is racist.
Friday news dump?
Their problem is that your so-called "regular dems" is that there are so damn few of them left. Out of 244 Dems in the House and Senate, perhaps no more than 40-50 might fit that template -- the rest being your "super libs" and "race-baiters", all holding very secure seats.
In my view, it's more likely that this "regular dem" rump of the party will a.) lose more seats in a 2012 GOP landslide and b.) those who remain become prone to 3rd party blandishments or switch to the GOP.
In any event, a wipeout election could very well destroy the Democrat party as we know it -- which would be for the good of the country.
At the same time, a Romney loss and failure to gain the Senate could very well stimulate the formation of a third party -- and destroy the Republican party as we know it. That would not necessarily be a good thing for the country...
Yes,they are both legends in their own minds.
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