The bigger they think they are, the harder they fall, Part Four

I agree with John that Charlie Rangel’s ethics violations seem like small potatoes. But that’s not the case with Maxine Waters, whose difficulties I wrote about here and here.
Waters is charged with intervening with federal regulators on behalf of a bank in which she and her husband had substantial investments, and where her husband once served on the board of directors. The bank bailout bill ultimately included provisions that benefited OneUnited, a minority-owned bank in which her husband, Sidney Williams, owned about $350,000 in shares
Not only does this appear to be a classic case of corruption, but it involves a highly controversial piece of legislation involving a highly visible industry whose woes have helped wreck our economy.
House proceedings against Waters were supposed to begin last Friday, but were postponed. Waters duly claimed that the delay was the result of the lack of evidence against her. It appears, however, that proceedings actually were delayed because investigators found new, potentially damning evidence against the corrupt Congresswoman that they wished to evaluate.
According to the New York Times, invesitgators uncovered emails in which Mikael Moore, Waters’s chief of staff, actively discussed the details of the bank bailout bill with members of the House Financial Services Committee after Waters had agreed to refrain from advocating on the bank’s behalf. One investigator told the Times that the emails may directly contradict Waters’ version of the facts.
Waters’ defense was already weak, in my opinion, so she can ill-afford additional damaging evidence.

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