CA-Sen: Barbara Boxer and Maxine Waters Sitting in a Tree Supporting Their Own Family

The old scratch my back and I will scratch yours and your family’s too trick.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, has paid some $30,000 since 2004 for the endorsement of embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in the context of a scheme that critics charge is unethical and amounts to Waters using her political station to benefit her family members.

According to the Washington Times, Waters “has turned political endorsements into a family business, using federal election laws to charge California candidates and political causes to include their names as her personal picks on a sample ballot, or ‘slate mailer,’ she sends to as many as 200,000 South Central Los Angeles voters.”

The slate mailer business, it turns out, is run by Waters’ daughter, Karen, via her public relations firm.  Records show that Karen Waters’ firm has been paid more than $350,000 since 2004, and has billed a further $82,000 since California’s June primary, for its services in this regard.

Read the entire sordid piece.

But, what do you expect from career politicians living for decades on the public trough?

This will hurt Boxer in her race and Waters will be severely sanctioned for ethics violations when the GOP takes control of the House in January 2011.