It’s not just Charles Rangel, who is facing ethics charges, as another top Senior Democrat may face the same. This could be a problem with the Democrats keeping control of the House. And investigative subcommittee will release as soon as Monday, that they have found evidence that that Representative Maxine Waters violated the chamber’s ethics rules.
Both lawmakers face potential public trials just weeks before voters head to the polls for the November mid-term elections. Both are also leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus, making the cases highly sensitive as Democrats are working to get a big voter turnout by African Americans, one of their traditional constituencies.
Waters has been investigated since a bank in which her husband had stock received $12 million in federal bailout funds, ans she is a 10 term lawmaker from Los Angeles. Waters, who heads the House Financial Services Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee, helped arrange a meeting of officials from that bank and other minority-owned financial institutions and Treasury Department officials, who later said they did not know of her husband’s ties to the bank.
The actual charges against Waters won’t be announced until sometime after lawmakers return in September from their summer recess, and she intends to fight the charges. Neither trial is expected to begin before September and it is still possible deals could be reached to close the cases before a public airing, though that possibility becomes less likely as the elections draw near.
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/ 08/02/2010Ethics panel: Charges filed against Rep. Waters
A House panel announced Monday that Rep. Maxine Waters has been charged with violating ethics rules, setting the stage for a second election-season trial for a longtime Democratic lawmaker and adding to the party’s political woes.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-politics-more&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20100802%2F2490.htm&sc=1153
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/ 08/04/2010Waters asks for trial before November elections
Rep. Maxine Waters is asking a House ethics panel to hold her trial before the November congressional elections.
The California Democrat has been charged with ethics violations for asking regulators to help a bank in which her husband had a financial interest.
Waters also asked the House ethics committee to release the specific charges against her, and she said she was “deeply concerned” that the committee had not announced a date for a public hearing.
The committee was following standard practice this week when it issued a statement saying Waters has been charged but did not specify the allegations pending the first meeting of the eight lawmakers who will try her case.
Waters said again she had not violated any House rules.
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/ 08/06/2010Calif Rep. Waters wants ethics charges made public
Los Angeles-area congresswoman Maxine Waters says she’s innocent of ethics violations and wants the charges made public now.
But Waters told Santa Monica public radio station KCRW on Thursday that she can’t discuss the charges herself because of a confidentiality agreement.
The 10-term Democrat has been charged with violations by the Congressional Ethics Committee because she asked regulators to help a bank in which her husband had a financial interest.
The bank later received $12 million in bailout funds.
The ethics committee announced it’s charged Waters but hasn’t released the details and hasn’t set a date for her trial. It’s supposed to do so when Congress returns from summer recess in September — only weeks before congressional elections.
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/ 08/13/2010Waters defends herself against ethics allegations
Veteran Rep. Maxine Waters says she violated no House rules and did no wrong in connection with alleged ethics violations, including an assertion she sought federal assistance for a bank where her husband served on the board.
The California Democrat said “I have not violated any rules.” She also told a Capitol Hill news conference that she’s gone “above and beyond” what was required by House rules in reporting her activities.
Waters said Friday she had worked to improve access to federal regulators for the National Bankers Association, which represents 133 minority banks, including OneUnited Bank, where her husband also owned stock.
Waters contends the association requested a meeting with Treasury officials, which was held on behalf of the organization, not OneUnited. That institution eventually got $12 million in bailout money.
Netscape
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/ 08/20/2010Accused CA rep hits ethics office for sloppy work
A California congresswoman charged with violating House ethics rules says the congressional office that helped prompt the probe of her behavior is known for sloppy work.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hDI4mVRGI_S6IpuMPRl4eHrs44HAD9HN6PI01
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/ 08/26/2010Rep. Rangel affirms support for Obama at NY debate
Rep. Charlie Rangel heaped praise on President Barack Obama in a televised debate Thursday in which he sought to align himself closely with the president after pushing back on his suggestion that the embattled congressman step aside.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l3&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20100827%2F9331.htm&sc=1133
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/ 09/04/2010Rangel spends $111,000 on legal fees in 2 months
A federal campaign finance report shows embattled New York Rep. Charles Rangel has spent more than $111,000 on legal bills since July.
A House ethics panel has charged the Harlem Democrat with 13 violations, including using a rent controlled Manhattan apartment as a campaign office and failing to pay taxes on a rental property in the Dominican Republic.
Rangel has vowed to fight the charges. He’s expected to face a House trial in the fall.
The New York Daily News reported that the congressman’s latest campaign filing Friday shows he’s spent more than $1.8 million on legal fees related to the case. He’s paying much of the money out of his campaign account.
Rangel is running for a 20th term in the House and faces several challengers in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
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Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com
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/ 09/23/2010Ethics Panel members meet to discuss schedule for Rangel, Waters
Fox has learned that members of the House Ethics Committee and the various subcommittees which probed Reps. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) for alleged transgressions are meeting behind closed doors in the basement of the Capitol to discuss a trial schedule for the two lawmakers.
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/23/ethics-panel-members-meet-discuss-schedule-rangel-waters
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/ 09/28/2010Democrats accused of “stalling” in ethics trials
All five Republicans on a congressional ethics committee on Tuesday called on the Democratic-led panel to “stop stalling” and hold public trials for two Democrats before the November 2 congressional election.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68R64720100929
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/ 10/07/2010Congress ethics panel to hear Rangel case November 15
Trials in the Congress on alleged ethics violations against two prominent Democrats — Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters — will not be held until well after the November 2 elections, an ethics panel said on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6965KQ20101007
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/ 11/13/2010Rangel will be own lawyer before House
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D.-N.Y., who lost his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in a scandal, will represent himself at his ethics trial.
The House proceeding begins Monday, and Rangel fired his legal team in October, ABC News reported.
Rangel, 80, denies all 13 counts of violating House rules. He is accused of failing to reveal more than $500,000 in assets on disclosure forms, improperly getting four rent-controlled apartments in New York City and failing to disclose financial arrangements for a villa in the Dominican Republic.
He also is accused of abusing his chairmanship to raise funds for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York. He allegedly solicited corporations and foundations that had business before the Ways and Means Committee.
Rangel stepped down as chairman in March.
The trial is expected to last at least all of next week.
A subcommittee will vote on each of the 13 counts and report to the full ethics committee. The full committee then will hold a public hearing, and if any violation is found, vote on a sanction recommendation to the full House.
upi
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/14/2010Rangel Used PAC Money for Legal Defense
Congressman Charles Rangel, whose ethics trial starts tomorrow, appears to have improperly used political-action committee money to pay for his defense.
Fox News
newsdeskinternational
/ 11/15/2010Rangel ethics case in hands of jury of lawmakers
Once one of the most powerful members of Congress, veteran Rep. Charles Rangel of New York was reduced Monday to pleading with colleagues for more time to raise money for a lawyer before they took up misconduct charges against him. No, they said, and quickly began deliberations, saying the facts were so clear they didn’t need to call witnesses.
http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-politics-more&idq=/ff/story/1001%2F20101116%2F2412.htm&sc=w
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/ 11/16/2010the ethics panel found him guilty of 11 of the 13 charges. Next the full panel will meet to discuss proper punishment, then send the recommendation off to the House.
Possible punishments include a House vote deploring Rangel’s conduct, a fine and denial of privileges.
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/ 11/19/2010New documents in Waters case, ethics hearing off
New documents have surfaced in the ethics case of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California. The House ethics committee says it has postponed her Nov. 29 trial on charges that she improperly tried to obtain federal assistance for a bank where her husband is an investor.
Waters is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. She is vigorously fighting the charges.
Netscape
The announcement said the case will go back to a four-member subcommittee that investigated Waters and brought the charges. No new trial date was set.
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/ 11/29/2010Waters denounces delay in ethics trial
Rep. Maxine Waters denounced the delay in her trial on House ethics charges Monday and said she wants “this issue resolved immediately.”
Upi
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/ 12/07/2010Waters Calls For Inquiry of Ethics Committee Staff
Embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) could introduce a special resolution today that would craft a special panel to investigate the reasons two aides on the House Ethics Committee were suspended after questions were raised about their probe into Waters.
Fox News
Janet
/ 07/19/2011Waters calls for dismissal of ethics probe
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has accused the House Ethics Committee of violating her constitutional rights in its investigation of her finances.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/07/19/Waters-calls-for-dismissal-of-ethics-probe/UPI-68231311080286/
Janet
/ 07/20/2011Ethics panel names lawyer to probe itself, Waters
The House Ethics Committee named an outside counsel Wednesday to investigate its own partisanship, as well as allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters, a senior Democrat who helps oversee the financial services industry.
http://home.peoplepc.com/psp/newsstory.asp?category=Politics&id=20110720/a0eb372c-8c98-4f60-9e83-e34f2d40600b
Janet
/ 02/16/2012I think the dear lady is taking too many Pelosi pills, and has her head in the clouds.
Maxine Waters calls Republican leaders ‘demons’
Rep. Maxine Waters, no stranger to controversy, is turning heads once again, this time for describing House Republican leaders as “demons.”
Fox News