Rep. Maxine Waters Faces New Allegations

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters' family members earned more than $1 million over the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that she helped, according to a newspaper report Sunday.

Waters' daughter and son pocketed fees from campaigns endorsed by the congresswoman's election mailers while her husband worked for a bond underwriting firm seeking government business from her political allies, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Waters, an influential lawmaker who has represented Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena and parts of Los Angeles since 1990, declined to answer detailed questions, insisting her family's fortunes were kept apart from her political activities.

"They do their business and I do mine," said Waters, 66. "We are not bad people."

The Waters' close financial ties are not expressly prohibited by state laws or congressional ethics rules.

According to the Times, Waters and her children are linked through a political organization that publishes an election mailer listing campaigns she endorsed. Some candidates are included free of charge, though others pay tens of thousands of dollars.

Of the $1.7 million L.A. Vote collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Karen Waters and her consulting firm, public disclosure reports show. About $115,000 was paid to the congresswoman's son.

Karen Waters, 46, said she and her mother kept their business dealings separate. Her son, Edward Waters, 49, a high school basketball coach and political consultant, declined to comment.

Waters' children have also landed consulting work with the mailer's advertisers, including former 1998 gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi and Indian tribes.

Campaign consultants for the tribes, whose interests and ballot measures Waters has consistently backed, said Karen Waters was hired on her merits. "We didn't hire her because of her mom," said consultant Chuck Winner.

Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, has made nearly $500,000 as a consultant to a municipal bond company and lobbying politicians his wife supports, according to public records.

The 62-year-old former professional football linebacker and U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas said Waters complied with public disclosure laws, but declined further comment.

The Times reported that Williams helped the firm win a $40 million school bond sale approved by school board members that paid Waters' mailer operation to advertise her endorsement.

With his assistance, the company also secured a $424 million bond deal to build a prison in Delano after successfully pitching the office of state Treasurer Philip Angelides.

Angelides, who has been regularly listed in Waters' mailers, said in a statement that his decisions are based solely "on the advice of the professional staff."

Bond underwriter Siebert, Brandford & Shank hired Williams for his own connections and not those of his wife, according to Napoleon Brandford III, the firm's chairman and co-owner.

This is an editorial by Terry Anderson, a radio host. He has commented many times about Waters and how they as a black community cannot get across to her how their lives are being affected by illegal immigration. It's all about money, Maxine, be damned the black voter. What a piece of crud she is.

African-Americans drowning in wave
of illegal immigration

By TERRY ANDERSON

THE black community has made great strides in the last few
decades. Racism has certainly not been eradicated, but it is no
longer accepted with a wink and a nod as it once was. We are
proud to see Secretary of State Colin Powell, even when we do
not agree with everything he does. The same with Condoleezza
Rice, the president's national security adviser, and many others.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that in some regions we black folks are so
overwhelmed by the huge numbers of immigrants that we are
being displaced in our schools, jobs and neighborhoods.

That may seem a harsh thing for a black person to say against
brown people, but I don't see it that way. I am an American,
proud of both my nation and my race. What I see in my
community of South Central Los Angeles -- where I have lived
nearly all my life -- is thousands of Mexicans who care nothing
about our traditions and culture, and only want to impose their
way on us. That's not immigration, that is invasion.

It is sad what has happened in my neighborhood. This was a
respectable, blue-collar area of hard-working black folks living in
their bungalows and going to their jobs. In just a couple decades it
has become almost entirely Mexican. They live several families to
a three-bedroom house and keep chickens in the yard, but the
city doesn't care about the zoning violations or the noise of having
so many crowded into a small space.

According to the Census Bureau, nearby Watts is now 60 percent
Hispanic, and it was previously the black community on the West
Coast. No longer.

The immigration situation is really hard on our young people. A
17-year-old kid on my street couldn't get a job at McDonald's
because he didn't speak Spanish. Another young neighbor boy
was thrown into a bilingual classroom at age 8 and was forced to
listen to Spanish all day long. His six-hour school day was turned
into three hours. When his mother asked for an English-only class,
she was told "there are none."

Would you believe that I, a black man, have been called a racist
many times for speaking up against this invasion? I have a radio
program on the subject and therefore hear from a lot of people,
even some in Mexico.

When they call me a racist, I put this question to them: What if a
hundred thousand Vietnamese were suddenly dropped into
Guadalajara? And what if those newcomers didn't speak Spanish,
and further insisted that their children be taught in Vietnamese?
What would you think if they were happy to work for half the
normal wages for any job they could get, thereby putting
thousands of your local Guadalajarans out of work? Would it be
racist to say there was a problem?

When people of good will and good sense hear the situation put
that way, nearly all understand and respect my viewpoint.

Now if only they would listen in Washington. America's political
leaders are the problem. They have been selling out this great
nation for real and imaginary political benefits while ignoring the
dangers. Even after Sept. 11, nothing has been done to plug up
our borders. Another terrorist attack could be 10 times worse,
and it would likely happen because Congress and the president
learned nothing about the need to keep the nation's borders
secure.

If I sound angry, you hear right. Like other Americans, I want
immigration to be legal, controlled and reduced. But as a black
American, I see that the burden my people must carry is heavier
than for many others. I am sure that if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
were alive, he would understand the fundamental unfairness to the
black community of allowing more immigration than the nation can
handle.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.