U.S. House panel probing ethics matters

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. House ethics panel said Wednesday it is examining allegations against Reps. Sam Graves, Maxine Waters and Jessie Jackson Jr.

The bipartisan Committee on Standards of Official Conduct voted unanimously Tuesday to spend another 45 days looking into the allegations against Graves, R-Mo., and Waters, D-Calif., The Washington Post reported. The nature of those cases, which had been referred to the panel by the Office of Congressional Ethics, was not disclosed, the newspaper said.

The committee also said it had already been investigating Jackson, D-Ill., after the ethics office also referred that case but that it had deferred further review at the behest of the U.S. Justice Department, The Hill reported.

It had been revealed last spring that questions had been raised about whether Jackson or someone he designated had offered to do fund-raising for then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in return for an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

While the House committee didn't say why it was investigating Waters and Graves, Waters had come under media scrutiny for allegedly helping OneUnited Bank, in which she and her husband had held stock, obtain federal bailout funds. Questions have been raised about Graves's failure to disclose he used a private plane owned by a campaign contributor and invited a business associate to testify before the Small Business Committee on which serves.

Graves said in a statement he expects the investigation to show he didn't break any rules.