Jonathan Weil - Barney Frank Untouched

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

For all the strange details to emerge in the Maxine Waters bank-bailout scandal, this one might be the most surprising: It turns out members of Congress are prohibited from doing “special favors” for anyone, even if they receive nothing of value in return. Who knew? Here I had been living under the impression that handing out special favors is something Washington lawmakers do all the time -- be they free pens, tax breaks or earmarks. And, of course, it is.

Barney Frank (D-MA)

Yet under the Code of Ethics for Government Service, it is against the rules for any federal employee to “discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not.” That’s what it says in Count III of the ethics charges against Waters, which were unsealed this week by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The House of Representatives adopted the code in 1958.

The case against Waters, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, centers on her efforts in September 2008 to help a troubled Boston lender, OneUnited Bank, land a government bailout. Waters asked Hank Paulson, then the Treasury secretary, for a meeting between Treasury officials and representatives from the National Bankers Association, a lobbying group for minority-owned banks. The meeting was granted. However, the discussion there focused on a single bank, OneUnited. Read more here:

Jonathan Weil - Barney Frank Untouched