When It Comes to Ethics in Washington, Is Race A Factor?
The Office of Congressional Ethics, a new watchdog group set up by House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has once again turned its attention on another member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The latest target of this group is Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of the longest-standing and if not the most outspoken black Democrats in Congress, who is accused of intervening on behalf of OneUnited, a Boston-based Black-owned bank, which her husband Sidney Williams once served as a board member.
It is said that Waters arranged a meeting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in 2008 to ask him to hold a special meeting, in which the chief executive officer for OneUnited used the opportunity to ask for a $50 million dollar bank bailout, for the loss it had taken on the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae investments. Within a week, OneUnited received a 12.1 million dollar bailout- less than half of what was originally requested.
