The Denver Democratic Party has scored one of the most prominent members of the U.S. Congress, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), for its House District 7 “unity” dinner this Saturday. Unfortunately, she’s better known for her ethical missteps and verbal diarrhea than Congressional leadership.
In fact, earlier this month, U.S. House leadership announced that the ethical investigation against Rep. Waters would resume after a year-long hiatus caused by Waters’ stalling tactics. According to The New York Times, ethics investigators are accusing her of “improperly trying to facilitate federal bailout financing and do special favors for a Boston-based bank, OneUnited, at a time when her husband had stock in the company worth about $200,000.”
Following Waters’ accusations that the House Ethics Committee had violated rules in its inquiry, the committee brought in outside counsel, Billy Martin, a former Justice Department prosecutor, to handle the inquiry.
The Denver Post’s Vince Carroll noted this morning that Waters is an odd choice – we agree. Not only is Waters an odd choice period with her ethical foibles, but she’s an odd choice for a Colorado political party with this state’s focus on oil and gas development. In case you’ve forgotten, four years ago, she goofed and admitted that her goal was to socialize the oil and gas industry.
So, she’s not coming to talk about ethics…she’s not coming to talk about her support of job creation in the natural resources sector…what could she be here to discuss?
According to Denver Post doyenne Lynn Bartels, Waters is here to talk about the so-called GOP “attack on women” while she campaigns for President Obama here.
Just because conservatives call Rep. Waters out for her outrageous statements, ridiculous behavior, and unethical dealmaking – and she happens to be a woman – doesn’t mean they’re waging a war on women. As state Rep. Angela Williams (D-Denver) noted, “we believe actions speak louder than words” and her actions are just plain crazy.