Posted on 11/29/2011 5:49:20 AM PST by Kaslin
When Barney Frank (D-Fannie Mae) announces that he’s not going to run for reelection, you can bet that the Democrats have between zero chances and zilch of winning back the lower chamber. Or at least you hope they do, because the stakes are greater than merely partisan politics.
While Politico reports that Democrats aren’t yet writing off winning back the US House of Representatives, Townhall Finance will tell you that it’s a near certainty that the GOP will pick up seats in 2012; thankfully and gratefully.
And that’s a good thing for both Republicans and Democrats, because next in line for Frank’s chairmanship of the House Banking Committee, presuming the Democrats could win back the House, would be This Old Socialist, Maxine Waters (D-Bat Stuff Crazy), according to the Washington Post.
While the generic ballot has tilted in the last few weeks a little more toward the left, the trend is all GOP since 2008.
Until a Democrat wins a race that a Democrat is supposed to lose, nothing has changed. All you need to know is that the Democrats lost NY-9, a congressional district Obama won by 11 points and Kerry won by 12 points.
So relax: Maxine is probably not going to be running the banking system any time soon.
You know, unless the GOP screws up.
Remember I said “probably.”
Still, you might want to take up prayer too.
But for Barney Frank what’s at stake isn’t just ending his political career with whatever dignity he has left- which isn’t a lot. Instead, he’s looking at the destruction of the capstone of his career, the so-called Dodd-Frank banking reforms.
Number one on the Republican hit list of legislative repeals might be Obamacare, but Dodd-Frank is a close second.
“With Republicans set on repealing Dodd-Frank,” reports the Post “whose biggest components are still being put into effect, Democrats will be forced to fill the void to keep the legislation intact after the Massachusetts Representative retires in 2012.”
Already the Dodd portion of Dodd-Frank was put out to pasture.
Senator Chris Dodd was a victim of an electorate who was tired of inside dealing by Congress and legislation written by special interests. Rather than face an angry and disgruntled electorate, Dodd chose not to run for reelection.
Dodd, while chairman of the Senate banking committee, received a VIP mortgage from one of the worst abusers of sub prime mortgages, Countrywide.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal:
Former Countrywide Financial loan officer Robert Feinberg says Mr. Dodd knowingly saved thousands of dollars on his refinancing of two properties in 2003 as part of a special program the California mortgage company had for the influential. He also says he has internal company documents that prove Mr. Dodd knew he was getting preferential treatment as a friend of Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's then-CEO.
That a "Friends of Angelo" program existed is not in dispute. It was crucial to the boom that Countrywide enjoyed before its fortunes turned. While most of the company was aggressively lending to risky borrowers and off-loading those mortgages in bulk to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Mr. Feinberg's department was charged with making sure those who could influence Fannie and Freddie's appetite for risk were sufficiently buttered up. As a Banking Committee bigshot, Mr. Dodd was perfectly placed to be buttered.
Frank too was complicit in inside dealing at Ground Zero of the sub prime terror attack on our economy.
“Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives,” reported Fox News in 2008. “Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.”
Still the prospect of Maxine Waters, who makes the left-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s Most Corrupt list, as the chief banking legislator for the nation makes the stakes for all of us in 2012 a little clearer.
There is probably no other member of Congress who could make conservatives wish for the balmy days of Barney Frank quite like Waters could. She’s already under investigation for intervening on behalf of a bank looking for a bailout.
In politics, that’s what you call a chairman who is prequalified for the chairmanship.
Conservatives: This is your election to lose.
Start your engines.
Isn’t her conviction pending?
somebody please tell me this is a good news/bad news joke. Barney is retiring but we’re Maxine.
Now,I’ll show you some redistributing!!
Maxine Waters’ Ethics Trial Stalls. Again. (Who Is Surprised?) | July 23, 2011 | Patrick Richadson
Waters threatens to sue the House Ethics Committee for mishandling her case.
It’s notable that Waters is not asking for the case to be dismissed on the merits, but only because she claims she can no longer get a fair trial.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said in an interview that he inserted the provision for minority banks to protect OneUnited — because it is based in his state.
The provision sought by Waters — and inserted by Frank — told the Treasury Department that it should consider — for bailout money — banks that had an asset size of $1 billion or less, and whose size dropped to a lower range because they owned devalued preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The only bank that language would affect was OneUnited.
Waters is accused of using her influence to gain special treatment for Massachusetts-based bank OneUnited, which received $12 million in bailout funds. Changing a law was required in order to get them the money. Her husband, former Ambassador Sidney Williams, owned more than $350,000 in stock in the bank, and had also been a board member.
Rep. Maxine Waters wants ethics charges dropped
Citing “gross misconduct,” the lawyer representing Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is asking the House Ethics Committee to dismiss all charges against his client.
In a letter addressed to the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Republican Jo Bonner of Alabama, and the committee's top Democrat, Linda Sanchez, Waters' attorney Stanley Brand cited internal documents showing a close relationship between two former committee lawyers in the case and Republican committee members, saying “any further action by the committee would be “irremediably tainted and without legal foundation.”
Rep. Waters is a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee. The committee alleges that she tried to obtain a federal bailout for a minority-owned bank where her husband is an investor.
“Based on the facts of the case and the record of committee misconduct, the only remedy that vindicates the principals of the quasi-judicial functions of the committee is immediate dismissal with prejudice. No other remedy exists to cure this misconduct,” Atty. Brand wrote.
Rep. Waters has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, saying she had no role in the Obama administration's decision to bail out Boston-based OneUnited Bank. The congresswoman's husband, Sidney Williams, owns stock in the bank, and his investment was in danger of becoming worthless during the near-financial collapse of late 2008.
OneUnited received $12 million in bailout money in December 2008. But Treasury Department officials have told House investigators that Rep. Waters was not involved in that decision.
Rep. Waters contended she had supported legislation to help all troubled, minority-owned banks like OneUnited—and specifically those, like OneUnited, that were hurt by their investments in the then-collapsing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Atty. Brand said internal documents showed that the two former lawyers regularly corresponded exclusively last year with Rep. Bonner, then the ranking Republican and now the ethics chairman.
The two lawyers, C. Morgan Kim and Stacy Sovereign, were suspended last year by the previous Democratic chairman, Zoe Lofgren of California. Neither accepted Atty. Bonner's offer earlier this year to reinstate them.
The committee had charged Rep. Waters with violating House rules and was ready to begin a proceeding on her conduct late last year, but the case was sent back for further investigation after the controversy erupted over the conduct of the two lawyers.
Atty. Brand said in his statement that if there is prosecutorial misconduct in a criminal case, a judge would usually dismiss the charges. He also said the case was flawed.
“Given that both current members and staff are implicated in these documents, any other suggested remedy would lack legal credibility and would confirm an unprecedented level of bias against my client,” Atty. Brand added.
Meanwhile ethics watchdogs are calling on Rep. Bonner to step down as chairman of the House Ethics Committee—at least temporarily—for his role in the ongoing turmoil over Rep. Waters' case.
“I think there needs to be an investigation into the whole matter, including Mr. Bonner's role and that Mr. Bonner should step aside during the course of that investigation,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“If Mr. Bonner is found to have broken the committee's rules, he should be sanctioned by the full House.”
2 House ethics attorneys suspended (includes lead attorney on Maxine Waters case)
Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign on Nov. 19, but was unable to do so.
It is unclear if the decision to place Kim and Sovereign on paid leave was related to the Waters’ case or another matter, although they were placed in that status on the same day that Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the committee, announced the Waters’ trial was delayed. The committee announced that it had new information, including e-mails from Mikael Moore, Waters' chief of staff, that would have an impact on the Waters’ matter.
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One down...
...NEXT?
http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=71§iontree=2,71
DEPOPULATE SOCIALISTS from Congress.
Didn’t you just know that getting rid of “awful” would lead to “worse”?
Having Maxine Waters as the face of the Democrats on the Finance committee isn't necessarily a bad thing. It'll remind people why she needs to remain the ranking minority member.
Yep, for stealing bailout money for her husband’s bank investment they had a half a million invested. It was not qualified for bailout money but Waters made a call and the money mysteriously arrived and saved her a half a million loss.
Ain’t it great to be a corrupt politician?
Pray for America
There are a couple of good things about Maxine (bat-shit crazy) Waters assuming the leadership of the Democrat side of the banking committee. She ain’t near as smart or sneaky as Bwaney Frank and there should be at least two or three quotes a week that will have us in stitches. Maybe even have us FOTFL. Actually there is another good thing. She will be the face of Democrat financial prowess.
A change for the better. Barney Frank was a shrewd con artist, very devious. On the converse, Waters is too stupid to get much accomplished under the radar like the BFer. I would take this stupid commie dumbass over BF any time.
I can agree to a certain extent.
One of the assumptions that sheeperals hang their hats on is that the leftist politicians that they elect are intellectually superior to most people (especially conservatives).
I asked one such person I was talking with that expressed such a belief if she’d ever heard of Maxine Waters, Sheila J Lee or Cynthia McKinney, and the answer was “no”.
Of course, when I bring up this trio with those who DO know who they are, instead of defending their intellect, they attack ME by insinuating that I’m racist for picking out three black women. Nope, no racism here, I don’t even believe in the concept, but those three are the PRIME examples of leftist politicians having no intellectual advantage over any random person in the phone book.
They’re “a-laugh-a-minute” those Democrats. It’s amazing anybody takes these clowns seriously, other than for the damage they do.
I don’t think so, at least not yet
The swamp abhors a vacuum, one slithers out another jumps in.
LLS
You better check this link out. Most Corrupt
You may be right...
Frank was one on the “evil” side of the “evil vs deceived” dichotomy of leftist ideology.
I think Maxine is an “evil wannabe”... she’s just too damn dumb to be fully “evil”. She’s the “Diet Coke” of evil.
Bring her on. Let the world see this crazy person.
Couldn’t be better.
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