David Fiderer: No Wonder Maxine Waters Demands A Speedy Hearing On The Charges Lobbed Against Her...

[Hissyspit]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/when-the-office-of-house_b_672256.html

David Fiderer
Banker/Writer

When The Office Of House Ethics Disregarded Standards Of Honesty
Posted: August 5, 2010 02:56 PM

No wonder Maxine Waters demands a speedy hearing on the charges lobbed against her. The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has seen this kind of stunt before, most notably when it accused Leo J. Wise and Omar Ashmawy of lying to Congress. Wise and Ashmawy are the chief lawyers for the Office of Congressional Ethics, or OCE, which filed allegations against Waters one year ago. The OCE is nominally an independent outfit set up to investigate ethical matters concerning House members.

The House Committee, which is equally divided among Democrats and Republicans, never used the word "lie," with regard to Wise and Ashmawy's work product. It didn't need to. The facts spoke for themselves. Consider the OCE's report on Rep. Pete Stark, which alleges:

Representative Fortney Pete Stark has listed a house he owns in Harwood, Maryland as his principal residence on Maryland tax forms. By doing so, Representative Stark received state and county homestead tax credits and any annual increases in his home assessments were capped at no more than 10 percent.
The House Committee's response was unequivocal:

The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) has alleged that Representative Fortney "Pete" Stark violated Maryland criminal tax law and ethics rules of the House of Representatives by intentionally filing a false application for a Maryland property tax credit.

The evidence clearly establishes that Representative Stark did not receive a tax credit as a result of filing an application for the credit. The evidence also establishes that he did not file a false application for the Maryland property tax credit.

Representative Stark did not seek out the Maryland property tax credit. The State of Maryland required every homeowner in Maryland to fill out a form to determine their eligibility for the tax credit.

Therefore, Representative Stark did not violate House ethics rules. Nor did he run afoul of Maryland's criminal or tax laws.

- snip -

When OCE lawyers Wise and Ashmawy cannot find violations of rules, they invoke catchall phrases that, in the context of their deceitful and selective representation of the underlying facts, are meaningless. According to them, Waters allegedly failed to, "behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House,' and may have failed to, "adhere to the spirit and the letter of the Rules." That's a pretty hard case to make when you yourself have been caught attempting to deceive Congress.

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[Booster]

1. I'm behine Maxine in this all the way. I hope she nails them.

[glitch]

3. + infinity. nt

[gratuitous]

2. And the Ethics folks aren't racist, so stop saying that

It just so happens that they've discovered ethical violations of members who happen to be Black. But that doesn't enter into it at all. I mean, failing to act at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House! The flag is falling, who will catch it, if not the stalwarts of America Wise and Ashmawy!

[G_j]

4. Any Dems stepping up for her?

:shrug:

or are they letting her twist in the wind as they always do w/ the Congressional Black Caucus?

[cilla4progress]

5. These attacks on Black legislators

are transparent THREATS to Obama. "We're getting close," they attempt to transmit to him. I'm sure Obama reads it, as well. It's a common tactic. It's another high-tech lynching.

Having read the summary of charges, I'm confident the esteemed Ms. Waters will be exonerated. I just hope it's in time.