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U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters' family members have made more than $1 million in the past eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that the influential congresswoman has helped. In varied ways, they have capitalized on clout she accumulated in a 28-year career as an elected official who built her power base among Blacks in south Los Angeles into a national platform. Daughter Karen has charged candidates for spots on her mother's "slate mailer," a sample ballot that many voters in south Los Angeles use to guide their choices. She also has been paid by a non-profit organization she and her mother set up, funded in part by special interests her mother helps in Washington, D.C., that throws parties her mother hosts at Democratic conventions. Waters' husband has collected fees for opening doors with his wife's political allies on behalf of a bond company seeking government business. Son Edward has shared in the slate mailer proceeds and occasionally has worked as a consultant to campaigns his mother supported. Waters is a California Democrat. The Waterses are a twist on a growing and unregulated trend in which relatives of members of Congress are paid by people seeking or receiving the members' help at home, in Washington or, in some cases, abroad. Over the past year and a half, the Los Angeles Times has identified five House members and seven senators whose family members have worked for clients that benefited from the lawmakers' official actions. They included two sons and a son-in-law of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the newly named minority leader, who in 2002 introduced legislation to free up public land in Nevada that benefited their lobbying clients. [more] and [more]