Barney Frank hip deep in Water's ethics problems; race accusations fly

By The Scribe
August 3, 2010 8:42 AM
10 Comments

It appears the surface may have barely been scratched in the Democrat's growing ethics debacle.

From the Boston Herald... http://www.bostonherald.com/business/ge ... position=0


U.S. Rep. Barney Frank said yesterday he has "no regrets" about his role in helping a troubled Boston bank qualify for a $12 million federal bailout now at the center of ethics charges against California Rep. Maxine Waters.

In fact, Frank - chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee - says he never helped OneUnited at the behest of Waters, whose husband had served on the bank's board.

Instead, the Bay State congressman said he worked to promote the bailout at the request of scandal-plagued then-state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson. http://www.bostonherald.com/search/?top ... +Wilkerson

At the time Frank said he acted on Wilkerson's behalf, the senator was one month away from federal bribery charges to which she recently pleaded guilty. She had previously pleaded guilty to failure to pay federal income taxes and been cited for unreported campaign donations and expenditures.

But of course, all charges will be called racist by the Congressional Black Caucus and that fire will be fanned by the media, as we see in this example from Politico. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40533.html

The question of whether black lawmakers are now being singled out for scrutiny has been simmering throughout the 111th Congress, with the Office of Congressional Ethics a focal point of the concerns. At one point earlier this year, all eight lawmakers under formal investigation by the House ethics committee, including Rangel and Waters, were black Democrats. All those investigations originated with the OCE, which can make recommendations -- but takes no final actions -- on such cases. There's a "dual standard, one for most members and one for African-Americans," said one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Nothing new here. Just buy your popcorn and settle in. It's going to be a 3 ring circus, as usual.

http://www.gopusa.com/fresh-ink/2010/08 ... ccusat.php