Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters (born Maxine Moore Carr on August 15 1938), United States politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, representing the 35th District of California (map). She resides in South Los Angeles, in the Vermont Square district approximately six miles south of downtown.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas.

Biography

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Waters attended Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles). Prior to her entry into politics, she was a teacher and a volunteer coordinator in the Head Start program. Waters entered the California State Assembly in 1976. Upon the retirement of Augustus F. Hawkins in 1990, Waters was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for the 29th Congressional District. (The district was renumbered the 35th District in 1992 after California gained 7 additional seats in the House after the 1990 U.S. census.)

As a first-term representative, she gained fame by walking into the Oval Office and telling then-President George H.W. Bush, "Your time is up." Waters co-chaired the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton.

In addition to her service on the House Banking and Judiciary committees, Waters has served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (of which she remains a member). She is also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

In January 2006, Waters was named as one of the most corrupt members of Congress in the Beyond Delay report[1], commissioned by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The report accused the Congress member of abusing her position for the benefit of her family.

Quotes

• "This could become worse than a trade war." (April 2005, about sticking to the deadline for US Visa Waiver Program countries to make their passports compliant with US standards)

• "They do their business, and I do mine." (December 2004, about allegations of directing federal money to companies owned by family members)

• "The objection is in writing, and I don't care that it isn't signed by a member of the Senate." (December 2000, on her objection to the Presidential Election in 2000), to which Al Gore responded "The chair would advise that the rules do care."

• "The future of this community depends on our ability to stop the monster in its tracks." (At an anti-Wal-Mart protest).

• "George W Bush, go to hell! And while you’re at it, we want you to take Ashcroft with you. And don’t forget Rumsfeld. And please carry along Condi Rice. . . I have to march because my mother could not have an abortion. If she had an abortion, it would be a better world." (at the televised March for Women's Lives march, Washington D.C., April 24, 2005) [2]

• "Policy, for the most part, has been made by white people in America, not by people of color."

External links

• Official Web site
• Official Congressional biography
• Maxine Waters campaign Web site
• Top Blacks: Profile of Rep. Maxine Waters
• Haiti regime neither able nor willing to hold fair election by Rep. Maxine Waters
• 1993 Los Angeles Times interview
• Maxine Waters interviewed by John Ziegler. (2 MB)
• "The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post