1. Melvin Luther Watt was born on August 26,1945 and is an American politician who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency from 2014 to 2019.
23 Facts About Mel Watt
1. 2.
Mel Watt is a former United States Representative for, from 1993 to 2014.
3.
On November 29,2018, Mel Watt was found guilty of two counts of misconduct.
4.
Mel Watt ended his term as director on January 6,2019, and issued the following quote: "In my view, it's time for me to ride off into the sunset because the standards have become so confused that it's difficult to operate in them," he said, according to a transcript of his interview with investigators.
5.
Mel Watt was born in Steele Creek, located in Mecklenburg County.
6.
Mel Watt is the son of Evelyn Lucille and Graham Edward Watt.
7.
Mel Watt is a graduate of York Road High School in Charlotte.
8.
Mel Watt practiced law from 1970 to 1992, specializing in minority business and economic development law.
9.
Mel Watt has been a partner in several small businesses.
10.
Mel Watt was the campaign manager of Harvey Gantt's campaigns for mayor of Charlotte and for the United States Senate election in North Carolina in 1990.
11.
Mel Watt served as a member of the North Carolina Senate from January 1985 to January 1987.
12.
In 1992, Mel Watt entered the Democratic primary for the newly created 12th District, a 64 percent black-majority district stretching from Gastonia to Durham.
13.
The new 12th was no less Democratic than its predecessor, and Mel Watt was reelected 10 more times.
14.
Mel Watt only faced one relatively close race against Republican Scott Keadle.
15.
In 2010, Mel Watt sponsored the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act.
16.
On May 1,2013, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Mel Watt to serve as the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
17.
On October 28,2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid motioned to invoke cloture on Mel Watt's nomination, setting up a key test of whether his nomination could overcome procedural hurdles and move to a final up-or-down vote.
18.
In 2009, fellow congressman Ron Paul reported to Bloomberg that while Paul's bill HR 1207, which mandates an audit of the Federal Reserve, was in subcommittee, Mel Watt had substantially altered the substance of the bill, a move which had "gutted" the bill's protections.
19.
Mel Watt won support from Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts and the Congressional Black Caucus, both of which backed his amendment.
20.
Congressman Mel Watt was formally investigated by the Office of Congressional Ethics over a series of fundraising events he was involved in.
21.
On December 9,2009, Mel Watt held a fundraiser and soon after withdrew a proposal he had introduced to subject auto dealers to more stringent regulations.
22.
In what the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called "disgraceful", Mel Watt introduced legislation to slash funding for the Office of Congressional Ethics.
23.
In 1992, Watt was elected to the US House of Representatives from North Carolina's newly created 12th Congressional District and became one of only two African American members elected to Congress from North Carolina in the 20th century, the other being Eva M Clayton.