Maxine "Underwater" Waters Lined Up TARP Funds For Husband's Bank

OneUnited has contributed $12,500 to Waters' campaigns (less a sign of graft, we think, than general cozyness).

OneUnited has come under regulatory scrutiny before:

the F.D.I.C. sanctioned the institution in October 2008 for “unsafe or unsound banking practices,” including excessive compensation for Mr. Cohee. The bank had provided him with a 2008 Porsche SUV and maintained his $6.4 million beachfront compound in Santa Monica. Calif., with views of the Pacific and a spa and pool.

Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee also seems to have been involved in the preferential dealing:

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was so moved by OneUnited's plight that he tailored a provision in the $700 billion bill [3] so that the bank would get special consideration for help. And Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who also sits on that committee, could be relied on to ring up the Treasury to make sure they knew just how special OneUnited was.

Both Waters and Frank, of course, were reliable and staunch defenders of Fannie and Freddie (Disclaimer: while Repubs are made out to be heroes in this video, they were really more interested in channeling housing dollars to their private sector subprime patrons).

Of course, this isn't the first time Waters has been criticized for working more for the special interests of her family and major donors than, say, the general interests of public (how quaint a notion!)

Regular readers know we have a special place in our hearts for Maxine Waters. That is because she is one of the headlining co-sponsors of HR 600, a bill to allow property sellers to channel monies to buyers for downpayments on FHA loans, effectively achieving 100% financing. One such upstanding company is suing us for outing and criticizing their own participation in the scheme in the past (the practice is currently illegal, for some strange reason). But hey, we're sure Waters' participation is all about helping homeowners (even though they are likely to be put underwater in the transactions) -- not, say, allowing banks (like her husband's?) to dump REOs at inflated prices. Nah, couldn't be!