In the news:
Originally published Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:05 PM
6 replacements appointed in Waters ethics probe
House Speaker John Boehner immediately appointed six lawmakers to fill in for the ones who recused themselves from the Rep. Maxine Waters ethics case.
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Six members of the House ethics committee recused themselves Friday from the troubled investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and were replaced by a new team, a sign the stalled probe is set to restart.
Waters, 73, has faced scrutiny since 2009 over whether she improperly sought federal aid for OneUnited, a bank in which her husband had a financial stake.
During an investigation that has gone on for more than two years, Waters, one of the longest-serving African-American lawmakers and a high-ranking member of the Financial Services Committee, has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying her efforts were focused on helping a number of minority-owned banks that were in financial trouble.
The ethics panel has been split by infighting, as Republican and Democratic members and aides accused each other of mishandling the investigation and as Waters, who has maintained her innocence, has demanded the case be dismissed.
Last year, the committee hired veteran defense lawyer Billy Martin to conduct an outside review of the investigation. In a letter Friday to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, six committee members said Martin had found no evidence of any "actual bias or partiality" by the lawmakers, but they were voluntarily recusing themselves from the case anyway to "eliminate the possibility of questions being raised" and "move this matter forward."
Waters' office declined to comment.
Kenneth Gross, an ethics attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said the mass recusal appeared to be "unprecedented" in a congressional investigation but was understandable, given the circumstances.
"The committee wants to start with a clean slate," Gross said. "In view of the messy history of this case, it seems to be a smart move."
The lawmakers recusing themselves are Reps. Jo Bonner, R-Ala.; Linda Sanchez, D-Calif.; Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Michael Conaway, R-Texas; Charles Dent, R-Pa.; and Gregg Harper, R-Miss. Bonner was chairman and Sanchez the ranking Democrat on the panel.
In their place, Boehner named six substitute lawmakers to handle the Waters investigation: Reps. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va.; Michael Simpson, R-Idaho; Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio; Tim Griffin, R-Ark.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; and Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md.
The ethics-committee probe came after a separate body, the Office of Congressional Ethics, found that Waters probably broke conflict-of-interest rules in her handling of OneUnited's pursuit of federal aid.
Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.
