Waters Faces Ethics Trial, Vows to Fight Charges

The House ethics committee announced Monday that Rep. Maxine Waters will face an ethics trial at an unspecified date, after an investigative panel found substantial reason to believe that the California Democrat violated House rules or broke other laws.

Waters becomes the second lawmaker to move toward an ethics trial in the 111th Congress, only days after the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct initiated proceedings in an unrelated investigation of Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Waters has been the subject of an investigation since October 2009 focused on her relationship with the National Bankers Association and OneUnited Bank and her role in the decision to provide $12 million in federal bailout funds to the latter in 2009.

Waters’ husband, Sidney Williams, had served on OneUnited Bank’s board and owned a minimum of $500,000 in the company’s stock in 2007.

Read more: (Jennifer Yachnin, “Waters Faces Ethics Trial, Vows to Fight Charges,” Roll Call, 08/02/2010)