6 House ethics panelists recuse selves from Waters probe

WASHINGTON - All five House ethics committee Republicans and the panel's ranking Democrat withdrew Friday from a longstanding investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) to avoid further questions about their impartiality.

The extraordinary development came more than two years after the panel began examining whether Waters tried to steer money from the 2008 financial bailout to a minority-owned bank while her husband was a bank shareholder and board member.

The mass recusal, including that of Rep. Charles Dent (R., Pa.), came in one of the committee's most troubled cases. Past allegations of bias by Republican members forced the panel to hire an outside lawyer last July to investigate the committee and its handling of the Waters case.

The panel's chairman, Rep. Jo Bonner (R., Ala.), said the outside lawyer, Billy Martin, requested the recusals. But Bonner said the recusals "are not based on any indication of any wrongdoing or inappropriate partisanship by the members."

Waters, a high-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, was accused by the ethics panel of trying to use her influence to obtain federal aid for OneUnited Bank where her husband, Sidney Williams, is an investor.

During an investigation stretching for more than two years, Waters, one of the longest-serving African American lawmakers, has consistently denied wrongdoing, saying her efforts were focused on helping a number of minority-owned banks that were in financial trouble.

In addition to the five ethics committee Republicans, its senior Democrat, Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, withdrew from the case - even though she was not on the panel when the allegations of bias surfaced. In fact, all five Democrats on the committee in 2010 quit the panel when Congress convened in January 2011, saying new members were needed to take a fresh look at the Waters case. However, all five Republicans decided to stay on.

The Republicans stepping down in addition to Bonner and Dent were Reps. Michael McCaul and K. Michael Conaway of Texas and Gregg Harper of Mississippi. Replacements have been named to allow the case to continue.