Ethics committee outlines charges against Rep. Waters

[Scurrilous]

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"The House ethics committee Monday unveiled a three-count charge against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) alleging she broke congressional conflict-of-interest rules when she helped arrange a meeting of bank officials and Treasury Department aides in 2008.

The "statement of alleged violation," as the charging document is formally known, alleges that Waters, whose husband is an investor in Boston-based OneUnited Bank, "improperly exerted" her influence in arranging the meeting between the bank's officers and Treasury officials during the financial collapse of 2008.

The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics panel is formally known, reported that Waters's husband, Sidney Williams, held $350,000 in OneUnited stock as of June 30, 2008, but it had dropped to $175,000 by the time of the September meetings. Late in 2008 OneUnited received more than $12 million in funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, without which, the committee alleged, Williams's "financial interest in OneUnited would have been worthless."

Waters has denied any wrongdoing. The ethics charging document was released, in large part, because Waters asked for it to be unveiled last week, when she announced that she had refused to admit any wrongdoing in deliberations with the committee."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080903377.html?hpid=topnews