Maxine Waters

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Maxine Waters
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 35th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Augustus Hawkins
Born	August 15, 1938 (1938-08-15) (age 69) St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sidney Williams
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Maxine Waters (born Maxine Moore Carr on August 15, 1938) has served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, representing the 35th District of California (map). She resides in the "Hancock Park" area of Los Angeles, which is approximately six miles west of downtown.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas.

[edit] Background

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Waters graduated from Vashon High School in St. Louis and attended Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles). Prior to her entry into politics, she was a teacher and a volunteer coordinator in the Head Start program. Waters entered the California State Assembly in 1976. Upon the retirement of Augustus F. Hawkins in 1990, Waters was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 29th Congressional District. (The district was renumbered the 35th District in 1992 after California gained seven additional seats in the House after the 1990 U.S. census.)

[edit] Political career

In addition to her service on the House Banking and Judiciary committees, Waters has served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (of which she remains a member). She is also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Waters is a cosponsor of the House resolution to impeach Dick Cheney.^[1]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity (Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  • Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, Technology
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Border
• Co-founder of Black Women’s Forum
• Founder of Project Build
• Founding member and Chair of the ‘Out of Iraq’ Congressional Caucus

[edit] Controversies

[edit] One of the "most corrupt" members of congress

Waters was named in 2005^[2] and 2006^[3] as one of the "most corrupt" members of congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They said, "Her ethics issues arise from her exercise of this power to financially benefit her daughter, husband and son."^[4] Citizens for Ethics says this violates House ethics rules for family members' financial gains.

[edit] Los Angeles riots of 1992

Waters has been criticized for her comments regarding the Los Angeles riots of 1992.^{[citation needed]} In defense of the people that looted stores and damaged property, Waters said "If you call it a riot it sounds like it was just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason. I maintain it was somewhat understandable, if not acceptable. So I call it a rebellion."^[5] She also said it was "a spontaneous reaction to a lot of injustice" and "The anger in my district is righteous. I'm just as angry as they are." She responded to the mass looting of Korean-owned stores by saying: "There were mothers who took this as an opportunity to take some milk, to take some bread, to take some shoes. They are not crooks. Everybody in the street was not a thug or a hood."

[edit] "Socializing" the oil industry

In May of 2008, Waters told an oil industry witness at the House Judiciary Committee's Task Force on Competition Policy and Antitrust Laws, testifying in a hearing to investigate possible price fixing in the oil industry, that she would favor government take-over of oil companies if prices rose substantially.

[edit] 2008 Presidential election

As a Democratic representative in Congress, Waters is a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton initially, but later endorsed Barack Obama.^[6][7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Maxine Waters

• U.S. Representative Maxine Waters official House site
• Maxine Waters at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Ms Maxine Waters campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Maxine Waters issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Maxine Waters campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Maxine Waters (CA) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Maxine Waters profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Maxine Waters voting record
• Beyond DeLay — Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticism from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
• Top Blacks — Maxine Waters: Distingushed Congresswoman 2001 profile
• Haiti regime neither able nor willing to hold fair election by Rep. Maxine Waters, October 19, 2005
• Los Angeles Times Interview: Maxine Waters by Robert Scheer, LA Times, May 16, 1993
• Maxine Waters interviewed by John Ziegler. (2 MB)
• Maxine Waters speaks with Street Gangs Media by Alex Alonso, www.streetgangs.com, January 18, 2003

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