Double Trouble: Waters Family Profits from Endorsement Deals

“‘Drain the swamp’ means to turn this Congress into the most honest and open Congress in history. That’s my pledge — that is what I intend to do,’ Pelosi stated in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams.” (Brian Williams, “Rep. Pelosi poised to make history”, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, 11/08/2006)

RINSE CYCLE: Waters Slammed by Watchdogs Again As Family Profits from Apparent Pay-to-Play Endorsement Deals:

Rep. Maxine Waters has turned political endorsements into a family business, using federal election laws to charge California candidates and political causes to include their names as her personal picks on a sample ballot, or “slate mailer,” she sends to as many as 200,000 South Central Los Angeles voters, records show.

Some statewide candidates paid as much as $45,000 for their share of the costs to be included in the mailer, according to state and federal election records, and while it can be costly for the candidates, the mailer has proved profitable for Mrs. Waters’ daughter, Karen.

Karen Waters’ public relations firm, Progressive Connections, has been paid $354,500 since late 2004 to direct production and distribution of the mailer – about a third of the $1 million collected from the candidates and issue groups seeking to be included on the sample ballot, the records show.

The public relations firm was owed an additional $82,000 as of June 30 for her work on the mailer in the primary, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records. Her fees do not include expenses for printing and mailing, which are paid separately by the committee.
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Some consultants and watchdogs are troubled that Mrs. Waters’ campaign is charging candidates she endorses to be included in her mailer and said it borders on “pay-to-play” schemes, which have recently come under scrutiny by federal authorities.

“It is astonishing that politicians can cash in on their positions by selling their endorsements,” said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who now heads the political watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

“This further demonstrates that Rep. Waters abuses her position for the financial benefit of family members,” Ms. Sloan said. “She intervened with the Treasury Department on behalf of a bank in which her husband holds stock and she requires candidates seeking her endorsement to pay her daughter to be including on a mailing.”

Ms. Sloan said Americans have “long believed politicians’ votes are for sale.”

“Now we learn it’s not just their votes, but their endorsements as well,” she said. “This just confirms that at least some politicians really are bought and paid for.”
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Mr. Skelton, the consultant whose candidate paid to be included in the mailer, said he didn’t think the Waters endorsement and contribution were linked: “She makes a decision independently. Then you have the opportunity of participating in the slate mailer.”

If you decline to pay, he said, you are not listed in the mailer but you still have her endorsement.

Here is how the process works, according to numerous interviews by The Washington Times with consultants familiar with the mailer.

First, Mrs. Waters interviews candidates and makes her endorsements. Then her daughter calls the endorsed candidates and tells them how much they need to pay for their share of the costs of being in the mailer. (Chuck Neubauer, “Waters Family Profiting from Mailer Biz,” Washington Times, 9/2/10)

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