Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) has come under
scrutiny for helping to arrange a meeting between Treasury
representatives and officials from a bank that has financial
links to her husband. Regulators say the long time
congresswoman failed to disclose that her husband ,
Sidney Williams, has owned stock in OneUnited, a black-owned
bank based in Boston, with offices in Los Angeles and Miami.
     At a minimum, Treasury officials should have been apprised
of her interest in the bank before the meeting took place,"
said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
      Water said in a statement that she had fully
disclosed her husband's ties to the bank. Williams served on
the bank board until early last year and held at least $500,000
in investments in the bank in 2007, the most recent year for
which information is available. He did not receive a salary.
      Last September, Waters arranged a meeting with
Treasury officials at the request of the National Bankers Assn.,
a trade organization for minority and women-owned banks,
to discuss members problems after Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac were taken over by the feds.
       However, according to Treasury sources, Kevin Cohee,
chief executive of One United, used the meeting to solicit
$50 million. After the federal takeover of Fannie and Freddie,
shares in the bank became nearly worthless. Treasury officials
turned down Cohee's request.

Waters then arranged a second meeting in December to
advocate shares of the $700 billion bailout for minority-owned
banks under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). 
OneUnited received $12  million two weeks later, according
to a New York Times report.
      A senior member of the House Financial Services
Committee, Waters has often spoken out about financial disparities
in the African American community, specifically about unfair lending
practices toward minorities in her district, which includes South
Central Los Angeles and surrounding areas.  
     She said she has consistently fought to create
opportunities for financial prosperity in minority communities.
I maintain that my advocacy on behalf of small, women, minority and
community banks is appropriate, she said in a statement.
     Sloan said the incident raises ethical questions,
particularly lobbying by members of Congress. How many members of
Congress are having meetings with the Treasury Department pleading
for funds for certain banks she said.
     Waters downplayed her own influence: "Although both my
supporters and detractors often refer to me as influential, the truth
is that I had no influence on what Bush administration officials in the
Treasury Department or other departments did."