Ethics panel extends Waters investigation

The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it is extending the contract of the outside counsel investigating the handling of the committee's case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

In July the panel hired outside attorney Billy Martin to investigate whether the case against Waters was mishandled and whether she was in violation of House ethics rules. But after five months — and approximately $300,000 — the committee asked the House Administration Committee to extend his contract, citing “unavoidable delays.”

“The committee's goal has been and remains to resolve this matter as expeditiously as possible, but due to unavoidable delays, additional time is needed for outside counsel to complete his initial review and report his findings and conclusions to the full Committee, which will then determine whether the matter should proceed,” the committee said in a statement Friday. 

A spokesman for Waters said that the extension of Martin’s contract signified the enormity of the committee’s initial mishandling of its investigation against the veteran lawmaker.

“Although disappointed that this matter, which should have been resolved by now, may continue, the only news in today’s announcement is that the investigation into the committee’s misconduct requires more time,” the spokesman said.

“The House and the American people should be concerned, as we are, that the extent of the committee’s misconduct and the erosion of Rep. Waters’ due process rights may be so pervasive, that it may take special counsel more than a year to review the extent of the committees wrongdoing.”

The panel gave no indication of when the case might be finished, but any findings will likely be delayed until next year and possibly cost hundreds of thousands more in taxpayer dollars.

The panel’s chairman Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) and ranking member Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) said in the statement that Martin had made “significant progress” but that he would not be able to deliver his report by Jan. 2 when his initial contract expires.

Martin will be on the job until at least July 31, 2012, which is the date his new contract expires. The committee also authorized additional expenditures between $50,000 and $500,000.

Not all of that time and money may be needed however.

"The Committee has not concluded either that the entirety of the matter will be completed by that date or that outside counsel will need the full amount of time and/or funding to complete his initial review and any subsequent work, if necessary," the statement said.

Waters is well positioned to take over as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee next Congress when its current chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) retires. An ongoing ethics investigation, however, could hamper her chances at gaining the powerful spot. 

The committee — formerly known as the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct — has been looking into allegations that Waters helped secure federal funding for a bank in which her husband owned stock. 

Waters has maintained her innocence and pointed to the committee's suspension of her case last year as evidence that the case had no merit.

Shortly after the case was halted, two of the committee’s lawyers — Morgan Kim, the former deputy chief counsel and director of investigations and enforcement, and Stacy Sovereign — were placed on administrative leave. Charges surfaced that they improperly handled the probe into Waters’s case.

The case was dormant for more than six months as the committee fired, promoted and hired staff. After numerous calls from watchdog groups to move on the Waters case, Martin was hired in July.

Since then he has “interviewed numerous witnesses, and conducted extensive legal research regarding the nature of due process rights which attach to Members of Congress appearing before this committee,” according to the committee.

— This story was last updated at 3:33 p.m.

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