Waters Defends Herself Against Charges

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) held an unusual press conference this morning with reporters inside the Capitol to plead her innocence over ethics charges against her and her chief of staff.

The 90-minute roundtable was held in an “undisclosed” location inside the Capitol building, and was limited to members of the press who received invitations to attend from Waters’ DC office. During the press conference, Waters defended herself against accusations by a House ethics panel that she used her influence to secure bailout funds in 2008 for a bank in which her husband owned a significant amount of stock.

The bank, OneUnited, is a small minority-owned firm based in Boston that suffered heavy losses in 2008 due to its investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Shortly thereafter, bank executives asked the U.S. Treasury Department for $50 million to stay afloat, and ended up receiving $12 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds.

The Ethics committee’s statement of alleged violations (SAV) against Waters includes charges that she “violated the letter and spirit of House rules and federal regulations designed to prevent lawmakers from using their posts to benefit themselves or giving the appearance of conflicts of interest.” Nonetheless, Waters claimed today that she did nothing wrong.

“Neither my staff nor I engaged in any improper behavior; we did not influence anyone; and we did not gain any benefit,” she said. “This case is not just about me. This case is about access, about access to those who are not heard by people in power.”

Waters said she arranged the press conference to clear up any “misinformation” about her case. She said she had not spoken about it beforehand with any of the House Democratic leadership, some of whom were visibly annoyed with Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) for publicly discussing his own alleged ethics violations earlier in the week.

Click here for more of Rep. Waters’ response to the ethics committee’s investigation.

Reaction On Capitol Hill To Rangel Charges Mixed

By Alexa Gitler - Talk Radio News Service 

Even after the House Ethics Committee charged Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) with over a dozen rules violations, the embattled former Ways and Means Chair continued to voice his innocence. 

“Even though they are serious charges, I’m prepared to prove that the only thing I’ve ever had in my 50 years of public service is service,” Rangel told reporters Thursday night. 

Today on Capitol Hill, however, Rangel received mixed reviews from folks.

“As important as Rangel is to the Democrats and for someone who has served so long, he has deeply disappointed the people who voted for him and it has put serious distrust in the Democratic Party, said James Davis, a resident of Walhalla, South Carolina.” 

Several Democrats, even leaders like House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), urged Rangel to reach a settlement with the committee to avoid the prospect of televised hearings right before the November elections. Byron, Illinois resident Susanne Smith told Talk Radio News Service that she believes Rangel’s trial will hurt the Democrats in the midterms.

“I don’t think people will really remember the outcome of this trial but it will definitely shed a lot of negative light on the Democratic Party,” she said.

Despite the laundry list of charges, some don’t believe Rangel, 80, is guilty. Mark Davidson from Germantown, Maryland said people should not rush to judgments over Rangel.

“Those are just allegations, nothing is set in stone,” he said. “In our country everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty with cold hard evidence, and people should remember that!” 

Others out there think putting Rangel on trial is a waste of taxpayer time and money.

“Yes this is important, but there are many other things going on in the world - the wars overseas, problems with our economy - that are much more important than this that our government should really be focusing on,” said Eric Cho of Gaithersburg, Maryland.