Waters investigation drags on

It’s official: The ethics investigation of Los Angeles Congresswoman Maxine Waters will drag into the new year.

The House Ethics Committee hired an outside investigator to do two things: find out whether LA Democrat Maxine Waters used the power of her position on the Financial Services Committee to help a bank in which her husband owned stock; and to determine whether the Ethics Committee bungled the investigation.

The Committee has voted unanimously to extend investigator Billy Martin’s contract until July, because of what it called “unavoidable delays.”

A spokeswoman for Congresswoman Waters suggests that the delay reflects problems within the committee, saying that the “erosion of Representative Waters’ due process rights may be so pervasive” that it may take more than a year to review “the extent of the committee’s wrongdoing.”

The Committee says it’s not sure Martin will need the extra six months to complete his investigation.