Maxine Waters Dodges Ethics Charges

Rep. Maxine Waters didn't break any ethics rules by steering $12 million in bailout funds to OneUnited, a bank her husband owned stock in—but her chief of staff/grandson did, the House Ethics Committee announced today. Acting Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, said that, after investigating, the panel was convinced that Waters had gone to the Treasury intent on helping all minority banks, not just OneUnited, and that when she'd realized that OneUnited was involved, she asked Barney Frank to take over the case.

But her chief of staff Mikael Moore kept pushing the Financial Services Committee for help for the bank. "It is abundantly clear that Rep. Waters told Mr. Moore that he should not specifically assist OneUnited," Goodlatte said. But Moore is likely to escape any real punishment; the committee will probably just send him a letter admonishing his conduct, the AP reports.