The skanner., October 03, 2012, Page 5, Image 5

Opinion
Maxine Waters Case: A Political Train Wreck
The headlines proclaim that
Rep. Maxine Waters, the outspo-
ken Democrat from California,
has been cleared of charges that
she violated House ethics by advo-
cating on behalf of a Black bank in
which her husband held a substan-
tial investment. The real story,
however, is that Waters case
serves as Exhibit A for how a
Black elected official who has
done nothing wrong can have her
name smeared for several years
largely because of partisan poli-
tics.
OneUnited, a member of the
National Bankers Association,
was in danger of closing its doors
and was seeking $50 million in
federal bailout money to stay
afloat. Waters’ husband, Sidney
Williams, a former board member
of OneUnited, owned bank stock
valued at $350,000 that he would
have lost if the bank had tanked.
House conflict-of-interest rules
prohibit members of Congress
from using their official position
on behalf of an entity in which
they have a personal interest. In
Waters’ case, as a senior member
request for assistance from the
Treasury Department, and then
T HE C URRY relayed this decision to her COS
R EPORT
[Chief of Staff].”
House Republicans were aware
of the pertinent facts but decided
George E.
to pursue the case against Waters
Curry
anyway. The final report noted
that there was “an extended, and at
time contentious investigation of
the allegations.”
The committee hired William
of the House Financial Services
Committee and a strong advocate “Billy” Martin, a respected
for Black banks, it was not uncom- African-American attorney, to
mon for her to arrange meetings
between federal officials and the
National Bankers Association.
Waters made no secret of her
husband’s involvement in OneU-
nited. She made it part of her
public financial disclosure reports.
In addition, according to the
Ethics Committee finding, “it
appears that Representative
Waters recognized and made serve as outside counsel. His
efforts to avoid a conflict of inter- investigation found that some staff
est with respect to OneUnited. She members communicated only with
informed the then-Chairman of the members of one party without
House Financial Services Com- communicating with the rest of the
mittee that she was ‘not going to committee and that one staffer had
be involved in’ OneUnited’s made comments that were “racial-
ly insensitive and completely
inappropriate.”
Although Martin did not name
the specific party in question, it is
easy to deduce that staffers were
communicating with Republicans,
who hold a majority on the com-
mittee, and not Democrats. In
addition, Republican committee
members were also communicat-
ing with House leadership about
the investigation, which was sup-
posed to be non-partisan.
The investigation became so
How a Black elected official who has
done nothing wrong can have her
name smeared for several years
largely because of partisan politics
tainted that, in what they
described as a move to assure that
Waters was being treated fairly,
the entire 10-member panel and
staff investigating Waters were
replaced. And it was this new
committee, working with Martin,
that exonerated Waters.
It did not reach the same conclu-
sion about Mikael Moore, the
congresswoman’s chief of staff
and grandson.
Congress prohibits its members
from hiring of close relatives, a
definition that does not include
grandchildren. Because of the
Waters case, however, the com-
mittee members think that time
has come to broaden the definition
of close relatives to include grand-
children.
Waters contended all along –
and the evidence was there to sup-
port her assertion – that she had
done nothing improper. But House
Republicans were intent on drag-
ging her name through the mud.
This is one of the few times that
they have been fully exposed.
How many other Black lawmakers
have been subjected to the same
treatment, but that information
never became public?
George E. Curry is editor-in-
chief of the National Newspaper
Publishers Association News
Service (NNPA).
Letters to the Editor
Ethos at IFCC
Dear Editor:
Thank you for publishing the
article, “ ETHOS at IFCC Open
House: Time to Get Re-Involved.”
Your coverage highlighted Ethos’
continuing dedication to offer
responsive community program-
ming at the historic Interstate
Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC).
IFCC has long been a valuable
arts center in our neighborhood.
As you know, IFCC was founded
in 1982 by Portland’s first
African-American elected official,
Charles Jordan. The building is
owned by Portland Parks & Recre-
ation and was previously managed
by an autonomous nonprofit,
IFCC, Inc. Despite receiving an
annual subsidy from the City of
Portland, IFCC, Inc. unfortunately
ceased operations in May of 2010.
In August 2010, Portland’s City
Council unanimously voted for
Ethos to operate IFCC. Since that
time, Ethos has partnered with
numerous artists and community
groups including: Hand to Mouth
Theater, ASPIRE Project, Region-
al Arts and Culture Council,
Passin Art, BroadArts, and Thera
Memory, to only name a very
small handful. There has long
been a process in place for com-
munity involvement and former
staff even hosted community pan-
els to gather feedback on
programming. Under the leader-
ship of Ethos’ founder, Charles
Lewis, the
tion accom-
plished a great deal in the last two
years without any financial contri-
bution whatsoever from the City
of Portland. These accomplish-
ments were despite a difficult
economy that resulted in the clo-
sure of many nonprofits. These
successes can be directly con-
tributed to Charles Lewis and the
Ethos staff who worked at IFCC
during that time.
As you mentioned in the article,
I assumed the title of Executive
Director in January of 2012. Due
to staff turnover, the IFCC Pro-
gram Manager position was
vacant and wasn’t filled until
March of
2 0 1 2 .
Unfortu-
nately, we
did not have
a dedicated
staff person
to focus on
program-
ming IFCC
until early
spring of
2012. How-
ever, we are
excited to
announce a
number of
new part-
nerships and hope to reach out to
the community to continue the
rich legacy of the Interstate Fire-
house Cultural Center.
We always welcome drop-in
visitors at the Interstate Firehouse
Cultural Center to share feedback
and to learn about upcoming class-
es and performances. Thank you
again for running the article and
helping us reach even more people
with our hopes for the future of
IFCC.
Sincerely,
Jedidiah Chavez
Executive Director
Re: ‘Don’t Play Politics’
Dear Editor:
In your Sept. 26 article, you stated that
“Not one single firing has been upheld.”
That is wrong. Back in 1987, I was fired
for some off duty conduct. I did not hurt
anyone, nor did I rape babies. But I was
fired and the union took my case to arbitra-
tion. Everyone in the room for four (4) days
thought we, the union, had won, including
the Chief and Deputy Chief. But we lost.
And what that cost me was a pension for
eighteen (18) years of service, twenty year
vesting at that time, eighteen (18) years of
not paying social security, private pension
plan. My reputation for life and not being
able to ever work in law enforcement again
and I was forty-five (45) years old. Now try
getting a job at 45 with that anchor on your
back. So, the Union has not won them all.
But close, I am their only loss. I was also a
single parent with two children living at
home and a mother in a nursing home.
Talk about stress.
The arbitration system is state law and
Adams is wasting the cities cash trying
to win this one. He needs to go to the
legislature and get the system fixed.
Something he can do in his spare time
next year. But I bet he does not address
the problem after he leaves office.
I have no opinion on the Frashour
case, it was a tragedy, but I don’t know
the guy, so unk if he has any common
sense or not....Some cops do and some
don’t. With a thousand officers, you are
bound to get a few different personali-
ties and thoughts....
Anyway, the union has not won them
all.
Bob Clary
October 3, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5