Barney Frank's Retirement Creates an Opportunity for Maxine Waters

by Frederick H. Lowe

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank's decision to retire opens the door for U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters to become the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and possibly the committee's chairman if Democrats re-take the House in the 2012 election.  The committee oversees the nation's economy through the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. Treasury and the production and distribution of currency.

The 71-year-old Frank, who represents Massachusetts' 4th District, which includes the Boston suburbs of Newton and Brookline, announced Monday that would not seek re-election in November 2012. 

Frank has represented the 4th Congressional District since 1980, when voters elected him to succeed Father Robert Drinan.  In a statement, Frank said he began to think about retirement last year as Congress was completing passage of the financial reform bill.  In 2007, Frank became chairman of the  House Financial Services Committee, and in 2010, when Republicans became the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives, Frank became the ranking or senior Democrat on the committee.

Waters (D., Calif.) said she was deeply saddened that her friend Barney Frank has decided not to seek re-election and that his retirement represented a loss to the committee and Congress.

“As the most senior member of the committee, the current ranking member on the Capital Markets subcommittee and the former chair of the Housing and Community Opportunity subcommittee, I hope to use my experience to continue and expand his work in the committee,” Waters said. “I will continue to champion practical regulations, while making sure they work for consumers and the financial sector, a sector which has the right to be profitable but the obligation to be fair, two concepts which are not mutually exclusive.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders must decide whether they want to support Waters for the job of ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. Under that committee are the subcommittees on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, Insurance Housing and Community Opportunity and Oversight and Investigations.

Waters, however, faces an investigation by the House Office of Congressional Ethics. The committee charged her with violating House rules by seeking federal financial assistance for OneUnited Bank, a Boston-based, African-American owned, Internet bank that at one time had ties to her husband, Sidney Williams, former U.S. Ambassador to the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Williams was a board member of OneUnited Bank and owned $350,000 of the financial institution's stock. OneUnited no longer lists Williams as a board member.

Dr. David Bositis said Waters could get the job as committee chairman if the ethics allegations go away.  "The Democrats are squeamish about naming someone committee chairman who is being investigated for ethics violations," said Bositis, who is senior research associate of civic engagement and governance at the Joint Center for Political Studies, a Washington think tank for black-elected officials. The ethics committee is scheduled to report its findings in January.

The 73-year-old Waters has denied the charges  and has invited an investigation.

A bid for the ranking position or chairmanship would involve another fight in a challenging life for Waters.

A  native of St. Louis, Waters was the fifth of 13 children raised by a single mother.  Waters began working at the age of 13 in factories and in segregated restaurants. She moved to California, where she earned a bachelors' degree at California State University in Los Angeles.  She began her career in public service as a teacher and a volunteer coordinator in the Head Start program.

Waters' 35th Congressional District includes South Central Los Angeles, Westchester, Playa del Rey and Inglewood.