Another day, another ethics scandal involving a top Democrat.
This time, it’s far-left California Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).
Waters’ 2020 re-election campaign has just been fined a whopping $68,000 for breaking multiple federal campaign finance laws, according to newly released documents from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Waters’ campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, was caught underreporting both contributions and expenditures by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
At the same time, Waters was accepting illegal donations and handing out prohibited cash from a petty fund.
This isn’t a clerical error — it’s a serious breach of trust from someone who’s spent decades preaching about “accountability.”
According to nonpartisan watchdog OpenSecrets, Waters’ 2020 campaign accepted $19,000 in excessive contributions during the 2019-2020 election cycle.
The figure is way above what’s allowed under federal law.
Even worse, the campaign made $7,000 in “prohibited cash disbursements” — a clear violation of rules meant to prevent fraud and abuse.
The Waters campaign has now agreed to cough up the $68,000 fine and enroll its treasurer in a commission-sponsored training program for political committees.
However, critics argue that the punishment is just a slap on the wrist considering the scale of the violations.
Of course, Waters’ legal team was quick to spin the scandal.
Her attorney, Leilani Beaver, told the FEC that the campaign “acknowledges errors were made which were not willful or purposeful.”
Beaver blames the mess on “limited staff availability and resources during the pandemic.”
Translation: Don’t blame Waters — it was Covid’s fault.
Beaver also claimed that the committee had corrected its filings and “refunded or disgorged all excess contributions” flagged by the FEC’s audit.
It’s not the first time Waters, who has served in Congress since 1991, has faced ethical financial problems.
In 2004, Waters arranged for her daughter to work on her campaign as a slate mailer.
This is an uncommon practice on the federal level, but typical within California politics.
The congresswoman has been providing her daughter with over $1.2 million in payments since.
Many allege that the scheme is clear campaign finance malpractice.
The House Ethics Committee also formally accused Waters of violating conflict of interest rules in 2010, claiming she was giving government help to a bank with ties to her husband.
The Committee eventually dismissed the case, but Waters’ chief of staff was reprimanded.
Citizens for Waters was accused by the National Legal and Policy Center of accepting an illegal campaign contribution during her 2018 reelection campaign.
However, the FEC dismissed the complaint in a 5-1 vote in 2021.
In recent years, the longtime California lawmaker has become well-known for her staunch opposition to President Donald Trump.
During the president’s first term in 2018, she notably made headlines when she told her supporters to “create a crowd” around Trump supporters and administration officials.
Waters argued that Trump supporters should be made to feel “not welcome” in a variety of public places, including restaurants, stores, and gas stations.
Many argued that Waters’ aggressive rhetoric was a call for violence.
Meanwhile, Waters appears to be getting a free pass from the Democrat-aligned corporate media.
But let’s be honest: If this were a Republican, the media would be in full meltdown mode.
Instead, the silence from corporate press outlets is deafening.
This is the same Maxine Waters who has called for political harassment of Trump officials and postures as a champion of ethics and integrity.
Meanwhile, her own campaign is drowning in shady bookkeeping and illegal donations.
As usual, Democrat privilege means she walks away with a fine and a free pass — no wall-to-wall CNN coverage, no House ethics hearings, no calls for resignation.
One rule for them, another for the rest of us.
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