Maxine Waters - Biography

Last Editor: tumay				Maxine Waters Biography -   Name : Maxine Waters Profession : Politician Birth Details : born August 15, 1938

Maxine Waters Trivia -

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Maxine Waters Detailed Biography -

Maxine Waters (born 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. 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.) Prior to the election of "superstar" Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois), Waters was considered the United States' most prominent African-American legislator. She is considered by some to be an outspoken champion for the underprivileged and underrepresented. Her no-nonsense left-wing rhetoric makes her a favorite quote for reporters, as well as a frequent target for the wrath of right-wing pundits. As a first-term representative, she gained fame by walking into the Oval Office and telling then-President George H.W. Bush that " time was 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. Her husband, Sidney Williams, is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas. Ms. Waters has signed the call of the anti-fascist group The World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime. The statement condemns the Iraq war, torture, the abrogation of habeas corpus, theocracy, the suppression of science, the attacks on abortion rights, and "a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance." It advocates resistance to, and repudiation of, the Bush agenda. Waters has long been considered one of the last great practitioners of urban "machine politics." In September 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) named Waters one of the thirteen most corrupt members of Congress. CREW's designation was largely based on the results of an investigation by the Los Angeles Times into non-competitive awards of federal contracts to businesses owned by or connected to members of Waters' family.