Culture of corruption: Banking hypocrite Maxine Waters
My syndicated column today takes on racial demagogue and crony of color Maxine Waters, whose crooked ways I’ve covered since my first days at the L.A. Daily News. It’s about time the rest of the media put her under the microscope. Wait ’til she starts beating them over the head with the race card. It’s worked for decades. Now, she’ll just have to scream louder. I am looking forward to watching the Democrats try to ignore this most beastly example of the culture of corruption in their fold.
(Reminder: Go back and look at my liveblogging of the TARP debate. Note how aggressive Waters was in taking a lead role pushing congressional black caucus members to swallow the crap sandwich. No disclosure of her own self interest in the matter. She’s just a Champion of The People, speaking Truth to Power. And here’s another reminder of minority racketeers pushing for their bailout cut with Waters’ assistance. Business as usual, rainbow coalition shakedown-style.)
I think we should start referring to Waters as “Bank of OneUnited,” the same way she referred to bank execs by their company name.
***
Maxine Waters: Banking on hypocrisy
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
At a flail-and-wail House hearing last month, California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters melted down in front of big banking CEOs. “Raise your hand! Raise your hand!” she shrieked as she harangued the executives on their business practices and management of federal bailout money. Sneering at the “captains of the universe” whom she refused to address by name (”You, Bank of America!”), Rep. Waters excoriated the corporate heads for their greed. ” All of my political life,” Waters bragged, “I have been in disagreement with the banking and mostly financial services community because of practices that I have believed to be not in the best interest always of the very people that they claim to serve.”
As you’ll soon see, however, the ethically conflicted Rep. Waters has her own special definition of what’s in “the best interest” of the people she claims to serve. While she crusades against crony pseudo-capitalism, she is one of its most hypocritical beneficiaries and advocates. Cronyism comes in all colors. Waters has once again earned her title as one of the “Most Corrupt” members of Congress from the left-leaning (yes, left-leaning) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
The bank CEOs sat meekly during Waters’ verbal flogging. But as she frothed at the mouth, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Franks covered up the microphone and chastised her briefly. To no avail. Waters’ motor mouth kept on running. Did the banks raise interest rates on credit card customers after they took Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money, she thundered? Thumping her fists on the table, she then railed about their loan modification policies (”How many require that you have to be behind by two months!?”). Blustering about underwriting fees they paid themselves on government-backed bond sales, she yelled: “You made money off the TARP money!” One of her fellow Democrats finally ended the diatribe: “I’m going to have to calm you down because when the Chairman gets back he’s going to have to penalize me.”
Fast-forward a month later. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the high-and-mighty Waters had a personal and financial stake in Boston-based OneUnited, a minority bank that received $12 million in TARP money under smelly circumstances. The banks’ executives donated $12,500 to her congressional campaigns. Her husband, Sidney Williams, was an investor in one of the banks that merged into One United. They’ve profited handsomely from their relationship with the bank:
“Congressional financial-disclosure forms show Ms. Waters acquired OneUnited stock worth between $250,000 and $500,000 in March 2004, as did Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams joined the board of OneUnited that year. Each sold shares in September 2004 — including Ms. Waters’s entire stake — but Mr. Williams continued to hold varying amount of the company’s stock. In the lawmaker’s most recent financial-disclosure form, dated May 2008 and covering the prior year, Ms. Waters reported that her husband held between $250,000 and $500,000 worth of the bank’s stock. Mr. Williams also received interest payments from a separate holding at the bank, also worth between $250,000 and $500,000. The 2008 form doesn’t specify what that is. Mr. Williams stepped down from the bank’s board last spring. It couldn’t be learned whether he still owns stock in the bank. Mr. Williams didn’t return calls seeking comment.”
Waters (along with Rep. Frank) participated directly in pressuring the feds for OneUnited’s piece of the bailout pie. She personally contacted the Treasury Department last December requesting $50 million for the company– and failed to disclose her ties to the bank to them. The government ended up coughing up $12 million in TARP funding for OneUnited — despite another government agency rapping the bank in October 2008 for “operating without effective underwriting standards and practices,” “operating without an effective loan documentation program” and “engaging in speculative investment practices.”
Oh, and get this: The favored bank of Maxine Waters was also penalized for alleged excessive executive compensation. The FDIC ordered the bank to “sell all bank-owned automobiles,” require reimbursement for executives’ car purchases (according to the Boston Business Journal, OneUnited CEO Kevin Cohee was cruising around in a 2008 Porsche SUV), and cease payments on a $6 million Santa Monica beachfront home purchased by Cohee, his wife who served as bank president, and others.
Responding to scrutiny of the bank’s special treatment, Cohee is now accusing critics of — yep, you guessed it — racism.
Now, who is sick of Democrat shakedown artists sanctimoniously lecturing others about the culture of corruption? Raise your hand! Raise your hand!
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Trackbacks
- Culture of Corruption: Many Americans Losing Trust in Government? « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters: Racebaiter and TARP Thief « Jane Q. Republican
- Waters Helped Bank Whose Stock She Once Owned « poplicola
- Troubled Waters - another Democrat banking queen scandal | Radio Vice Online
- What if it was Sarah who made Hillary’s trip? « Jim Blazsik
- Maxine “dirty” Waters Helped Steer Bailout Funds to Bank With Family Ties | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- San Diego Tea Party - Tax Revolt #2 Set: April 11, 2009 at 11 am! « Temple of Mut
- Michelle Malkin: “Now, who is sick of Democrat shakedown artists sanctimoniously lecturing others about the culture of corruption?” « Chronicle of The TARPorkalypse
- Michelle Malkin 2012: Culture of corruption: Banking hypocrite Maxine Waters | AMERICAS WATCH DOGS
- Democrat Culture of Corruption | Axis of Right
- Michelle Malkin » Congresswoman Bank of OneUnited responds
- The Race Card - Does it still work? | Patriotic Dissent
- Uptick Rule - Page 2 - Debate Politics Forums
- Friends of Mark Fuhrman - A lie told often enough becomes the truth. » Shades of Spokane re political corruption?
- ScoopThis.Org » Maxine Waters is crazy! (And a hypocrite, too.)
- Maxine Waters is NOT a nigger! « Mark Epstein
- Barack Obama is Ivan Drago | Obama Approval Rating Blog
- Conservative Nation» Blog Archive » The Hypocrisy of Maxine Waters
- Questioning Maxine Waters Makes You Racist, Bill Clinton’s No Biologist and Video of Every Turbo Boost Ever Used on Knight Rider - Your Weekend Links | All American Blogger
- Saturday Afternoon - Ripping Wallpaper - Laundry Time , An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
- Maxine Waters - Another Corruptocrat «
- Will the real Maxine Waters stand up? « Random Thoughts
- RAP SHEET: Democrat Maxine Waters « FactReal
- Obama says, “Don’t Worry Be Happy Now!” « Riggword Weblog
- Frank Takes One for Waters… « Red Dot in a Red State’s Blog
- The Irascible Chef » Oldtime Hypocrite Alert
- ObamaOdrama » Blog Archive » Maxine Waters Advocates Socalism… Er, Rather, Taking Over - Let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely
- The Jawa Report
- Roundup of News You Missed Because of the AIG Media Distraction « The IUSB Vision Weblog
- Pajamas Media » Barney Frank: A Cowardly Hater
- The Anchoress — A First Things Blog
- Michelle Malkin » Maxine Waters: “Many members” are as sleazy as my friend Charlie Rangel
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Categories: Cronyism, Race Hustlers, Subprime crisis
Power Line
» More From the East Anglia Archives
TigerHawk
» Negative equityAmerican Thinker
» Sarah Palin and the low ebb of the cultural leftRedstate
» Morning Briefing for November 24, 2009Doug Ross @ Journal
» ACORN pwnage part II: Breitbart's BigGovt Lowers the BoomBig Government
» BREAKING: San Diego ACORN Document Dump ScandalVillainous Company
» Amateur Hour in the Oval Office Continues....
Is this another Eddie Murphy character?
Suggestion to fellow posters: Instead of just expressing your disgust here, why not send that same piece to Maxine Waters? I have. She needs to hear from us, otherwise she will continue on her merry way.
All of our elected officials (especially this particularly repulsive racist) need a real lesson in humility and real punishment for their arrogance. I will never ever cast a vote for an incumbent again. From what I have seen at the Federal, State, and local level these thieves of our hard earned efforts have decided to set themselves up as the new age aristocracy lording over “we the serfs.” I can’t wait for the current Tea Party uprisings to intensify until we are able to retake our country back from these crooked politicians, race baiters, illegal invaders, and the aging hippies of the left.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: “Come and Take Them!”
I feel bad for her constituents. This woman is dumber than a post, and she does nothing but perpetuate an ugly stereotype.
In the end, however, Waters is a disgrace plain and simple. Whether by media attention or overwhelming public outcry, one by one, there are 535 elected officials in Congress who deserve to be scrutinized carefully for their performance. Waters, Murtha, Dodd, and Frank–and I’m sure there are more–should be humilitated out of office.
For now, I’ll be content to start with Waters. Her loudmouthed defense of Franklin Raines and Fannie and Freddie a few years ago should be played endlessly.
Why do these dolts take this abuse from corruptocrats like this?
If one of them had a pair, they would have just politely walked out of that hearing during Waters’ harangue.
As long as the 10th amendment is ignored and we allow the centralized leviathan to collect or borrow $3 to $4 trillion a year, corruption and self-interested politicians will remain staples in DC. We’re discussing, arguing and flailing about the symptoms or effects of centralized power. Distributed federalism, where the citizens could escape onerous statism by moving to a new state that would be presumably less onerous began to die with the reconciliation (root word “consolidate”) following the Civil War. This is a 150-year macro trend which will end inevitably with the dissolution of the United States and the balkaniztion of our regions, races and poltics. We’re being driven apart by our collectivism. Ironic, sad and unavoidable all at once.
“Hey, you, Bank of America…”
Priceless.
All doubts removed when they open their ugly mouths.
Has anyone ever written a piece addressing the predictable viciousness of “politics trumping reality” in a down economy?
I’m sure that others here have noticed the democrat party’s playbook of driving down economies, either through talk and/or through policy, to lessen the decision making power of the private sector.
Can anyone here honestly look at this clip of Maxine Water’s performance, and not see it as an unrestrained example of what liberals (in theory) and democrats (in practice) have been attempting to achieve as a party for over 40 years now?
That’s funny mom.
Instead of focusing on Servant Leadership, Maxine Waters, like Nancy Pelosi, focuses on Power and having others serve her.
sure there is…deaf, dumb, and blind voters….
The more I watch Waters, the more I realize her district must be the dumbest one in the entire country–as a whole–for continuing to buy into this scheister hustle she’s peddling.
It’s like Three-card Maxi perpetrated on a community or city-wide scale.
As a former teacher working in her district, I can tell you that most people there pride themselves on ignorance. You can’t act silly enough to be ridiculed. ANY attention is good, since they almost all want to be famous. I used to ask my classes of about 40 kids who thought they would be in the NBA. Almost every male hand raised. The dropout rate was at 80-90%, depending on how you counted it (they have tricks). And, of those graduating, only 5% or so qualified for a four year institution. Kids would ask me to fail them so they wouldn’t be embarrassed by having an “A” on their report card. Imagine.
The things you (most likely) value they find ‘whack’ and ‘acting white’. Imagine a value system where minor disputes over disrespect, maybe stepping on someone’s shoe, can be handled with a dance-off or a gun, and you will start to understand the level of idiocy in our inner cities.
Ok so the idiots in her district elected her. How does she get elected to a committee? She shouldn’t be allowed to speak in public!! I don’t know how those executives keep a straight face!
dimocrats use a quota system. a “cross section of america” means color of skin is more important then any other factor. obviously content of character cannot be applied to mad max.
My niece thinks along the same lines.
Tuesday, would this qualify as letting them know:
Being of an artistic bent, my niece’s creating (as various congress-critters & other administrative lice come to her attention…) a series of lucite sculptures — what I’d call an “obelisk”, about 1.5ft tall & she’s said the other dim. follow the “golden ratio” — each one contains a gift from her Great Dane Cyclone & is further personalized by tokens representing that Congress-critters’ or Tick’s departure from the Constitutional-True.
They’re beautifully done. I remember when she was creating McCain’s. In addition to Cyclone’s donation, it contained among other things, a campaign picture of Johnny McStabbinOurBack, a pile of pesos w/a sign on a post saying “bribe” next to a wire fence artistically broken while a couple of people crossed through the gap. It also had a tiny mockup of the Constitutional Amendments with part of the 1st noticably redacted (using glow-in-the-dark/daylight blood-colored ink of her own formulation). I’ll let you guess what was redacted…
She then sends them to the subject. No one’s written to thank her for their sculpture…
She’s created & serialized these sculptures for quite a few of our “leaders” incl. Bwarney Fwank, Jacoline Murtha (who has the distiction of being the only ex-marine existant), Teddy K, Sheets Bird, Gramnasty, and Arlen the Friendly Ghost (of Liberalism). She’s also creating one for Giethner[sp?], Rangel, Fast Eddie Rendell, Arney the Wallet-terminator, Obie, Reid and Queen Nancy.
She decided that since these people only listen to Leftys, perhaps if she uses the same methods, they might out of confusion listen to her pov.
Yes, I expect to hear one day that the “Party Bus” has been to see her.
Maybe I should suggest to her Ms Maxi-Pad as a subject of one…
Fox News has a special about the financial mess on – right now
Easy – the same way Barney “Chin Dimples” Frank and Chris Dodd do. Seniority and race (in some cases).
Well said, Mr. Felix. Well said indeed!
And I have never heard anyone explain to me how this “inversion of values” is the fault of a white person.
Black society has been moving backwards ever since it adopted race baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as their spokespersons. In addition, mainstream society has little patience for that garbage known as “hip-hop” — sometimes mistakenly called “music.” To compare that trash with the likes of The Commodores, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Temptations, The Four Tops, etc. is a grand illustration of just how far Black culture has fallen.
Martin Luther King must be spinning in his grave.
I totally agree. And it is understandable why many people do NOT have sympathy for the blacks in poverty. So many have chosen the culture of poverty and have embraced it. They listen to hip-hop, and seem to aspire to the lowest form of lifestyle possible. They pull their pants down around their hips and talk so strange and fast no one can understand them…know what I’m sayin’? They continue to treat their women like “ho’s”, get them pregnant and leave them to raise their children alone. The women aren’t much better because they allow it to continue. These people don’t WANT to change. They think they are cool, when they are actually first class losers. If you criticize them, you are racist. Personally, I give up.
Term limits would have been a blessing but that is not reality here. The accumulation of power & influence from too many years feeding at the public trough is a part of the problem here.
Catering to special interests is a contributing factor. How divisive or disturbing would a Caucasian Congressional Caucus be? Any less divisive than the Congressional Black Caucus is today? The Race based Caucus notion should be dismissed immediately for what it is.
Members of Congress that use their office for the exertion of undue influence or abuse the power of their office should have been subject to ethics charges but Caucus Membership may have prevented that in this case.
There is no equal treatment under the law but there is great influence here that steered tax dollars into some pockets for no other reason than a race based special influence. As far as logic dictates, Banks have the same legal recourse as I do. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and FDIC to cover the account holders. This is a travesty pure and simple. It is about Criminal activity, not race. Until the New Racism is confronted and corrected we can look forward to more of these shenanigans and more waste, fraud and abuse.
On March 15th, 2009 at 4:32 am, old trooper said:
Exactly.
On a similar note, there is very real discrimination going on with the awarding of governement contracts. The discrimination is against white men.
Anyone who is familiar with how government contracts are awarded knows that companies owned by women or non-caucasian males are routinely given preferrential treatment over companies owned by caucasian males.
Yes, there is racism.
Yes, there is sexism.
But the victims are no longer blacks, latinos, and women. The victims are caucasian men.
Oh, you can work a government contract if you are a caucasian man, but more often than not you are forced to do it as a subcontractor for another company that is owned by a racially-approved and/or gender-approved “minority”. The primary contractor makes money off the subcontractor for no other reason than providing access to the government contract…access that the subcontractor would not be given directly.
Minus any physical abuse, it is the modern day equivalent of a plantation, with the roles of the plantation owners and the plantation workers reversed.
This woman is a complete buffoon, besides being a racist. Hey Maxine, let’s talk “race”.
Remove her arse from Washington!
Um, Maxine? The glasses don’t make you appear any more intelligent. Especially when they’re coupled with your orating mouth.