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Maxine Waters brazenly pays daughter another $192,000 in campaign funds, nobody is stopping her

February 1, 2023 | | Print Article

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is brazenly continuing to funnel campaign funds to her daughter, forking over another $192,000 during the 2022 election cycle while publicly engaging in blatant nepotism that pads the pockets of a family member.

The Democratic congresswoman has reportedly paid her daughter, Karen Waters, and her company Progressive Connections over $1 million since 2003.

The latest funds were given to the younger Waters to keep her “slate mailer” operation afloat between Jan. 2021 and Dec. 2022, according to a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings. Outside campaigns evidently pay Maxine Waters’ campaign to appear on mailers or endorsement mailers that are then sent out to constituents in the Los Angeles area.

According to campaign filings, Karen Waters is paid management fees twice a month in payments that range from $2,000 to $6,000.

Federal regulations do not prevent candidates or members of Congress from hiring members of their families for their campaigns but such high-profile acts of nepotism are frowned upon.

The practice skates the edge of campaign ethics and has been allowed to go on for two decades. Waters seems to be the only politician at the federal level who uses the tactic to dole out committee funds. There is nothing unusual about slate mailers in California but many contend that deceptive practices are being used involving one campaign paying another to secure a politician’s backing in an election.

The Federal Election Commission approved the practice by Waters in 2004. Karen Waters has received in excess of $1.2 million in payments from her mother’s campaign since then.

Waters herself is making bank on the practice as well. Most of the money reportedly comes from individuals running for local offices but state-wide politicians have also shelled out large amounts of money to appear in Waters’ mailers, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris paid $33,000 to Waters’ campaign for slate mailer placement in 2010 when she was running for California attorney general. She paid $30,000 more to Waters in 2016 when running for the U.S. Senate, according to filings.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also paid Waters $45,000 for mailers when he was running for lieutenant governor in 2010, according to Fox News Digital. Former Sen. Barbara Boxer spent a total of $33,000 in 2010 and 2018 on the mailers. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón also dished out $36,500 to Waters’ campaign for mailers during his 2020 campaign.

The California congresswoman has repeatedly defended hiring her daughter to run her mailer operation, as well as paying other family members to do work for her campaign.

“They do their business and I do mine,” she said when reports about her campaign spending first surfaced in 2004, according to the Daily Mail. “We are not bad people.”

Waters also pays her son, Edward Jr., to work as a consultant for campaigns that Waters has backed.

The congresswoman has previously been accused of being one of the most corrupt members of Congress, according to The Washington Times. She’s also been nailed as supporting socialism in her own words.

On Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) resurrected comments she made 15 years ago threatening a government takeover of oil companies during a discussion of a bill denouncing the horrors of socialism in front of the House Rules Committee.

“We can go around and around in circles about trying to talk about and defining socialism, but at its core, I was intrigued by an op-ed that I saw not too long ago by a Democrat from Cuba commenting on one of our colleagues, an avowed socialist, and essentially pointing out the extent to which democratic socialism is a lot like the system my family fled except its proponents promised to be nicer when seizing your business. That’s the truth,” Roy declared from the floor.

“I’ve got one question for… ranking member Waters in a 2008 hearing you said quote ‘and guess what, this liberal will be all about … this liberal will be all about socializing … would be about basically taking over the government and the government running all of your companies’ end quote,” Roy noted. “Simple question: Do you stand by that statement?”

“I’m not a socialist, I’m a capitalist and I commit to you that I am here to save Social Security, to save Medicare, to save seniors and Veterans, and for some of you who have adopted certain kinds of ways that you support what you now claim is socialism, I’m here to say to you, come on,” Waters protested.

Roy bulldogged Waters over her 2008 quote, asking if she denounced her threat to have the government take over oil companies.

“I am not a socialist,” Waters replied, not answering the question.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)  introduced the resolution to highlight the failures caused by socialism, including famines and human rights abuses.

For context, here is the full debate on socialism:

(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)

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