Kudos to the Hartford Courant editorial board, with whom I rarely see eye to eye, for taking Dodd to task for playing games with regard to his Countrywide mortgage documents.
U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd says he’s got nothing to hide. Yet for two months he’s issued confusing and conflicting statements on whether he’ll publicly release documents relating to two loans he and his wife received from failed mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp.
He still hasn’t released them. On Jan. 23, Mr. Dodd was asked if he intends to await the conclusion of a Senate ethics inquiry before making the documents public. “Not necessarily,” he told a reporter for The Courant. “At some point soon we’ll do it.”
[snip]
His continued waffling about whether or when he’ll release the documents only fans speculation. That’s a disservice to Mr. Dodd’s constituents, who deserve straight talk and accountability from the state’s senior senator.
This is right on. I hope they keep it up until we get some answers.
Cross-posted at The Artful Doddger.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
One of the most under-reported stories this year; thanks for posting this.
jonreagan (Diary) Sunday, February 1st at 12:24PM EST (link)Chairman of the Senate Banking accepting a sweetheart deal from Countrywide Bank? Yeah, I’d say that’s fairly significant…..especially when many average citizens have been hit with foreclosure and/or major loss of equity in their homes. Dodd comes from a wealthy family, but I guess he just needed more…..hmmm….isn’t that what we call “greeed”?
It also shows the hypocrisy of many of these slobs like Dodd, Rangel, et al., who rant about CEO compensation while accepting bribes and cheating on their taxes. While I don’t think someone should get a bonus when their company is failing, that’s up to the shareholders to deal with. What these Democrat lawmakers are doing is illegal, and a special kind of greed.
The sad history here is that Dodd’s late father–Senator Thomas Dodd–was one of only nine men ever censured in the history of the Senate—in his case, for misappropriating campaign funds. Guess an Acorn doesn’t fall very far from the tree.
I completely agree the story has been largely overlooked and mostly under-emphasised.
CTVoter2010 (Diary) Sunday, February 1st at 1:09PM EST (link)It is good that this kind of thing is making the editorial page here in Hartford, but it really ought to be on the front page. I think the scandal is still news, and will be until he releases the records; he should not be allowed to fly under the radar just because he is ignoring it.
Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is on the front page of the Courant, and he should be, but he is only the mayor of Hartford. Chris Dodd is the senior senator from our state; he is the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; he receives VIP service from lenders he regulates; he bears significant responsibility for the collapse of our economy by way of his support of the sub-prime lending industry and his willful oblivion (at best) towards Fannie/Freddie as they went down; and all the while he is at the top of the list of campaign donors from those he is supposed to be regulating.
He deserves to be the lead story every day until November, 2010.
“…among his intimate friends he was better known by the sobriquet of ‘The Artful Dodger,’ [and] Oliver concluded that, being of a dissipated and careless turn, the moral precepts of his benefactor had hitherto been thrown away upon him.” – Oliver Twist
www.theartfuldoddger.blogspot.com
And I'll beat that dumb old dead horse again...
itrytobenice (Diary) Sunday, February 1st at 10:46PM EST (link)Can you just imagine the hue and cry if the perp was Orin Hatch or Tom Coburn?
The media double standard never ceases to amaze me. I keep thinking that at some time, just their own shame at being so blatant about it would make them step up to the plate. But no. So far, it’s just the same old song. Second verse.
Proper grammar saves lives.
Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.