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Hartford Courant: Chris Dodd's negligence
Call it Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's sin of omission.The senator and his wife, Jackie, got a very good deal when they refinanced their East Haddam and Washington, D.C., homes through Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2003. Actually, it was an extraordinarily good deal. . . . Countrywide gave the senator the lower rate, a so-called "float-down," for free. It also waived about $2,000 in application fees on the townhouse loan and $700 for the East Haddam mortgage. The free float-down and other perks were part of a "VIP" program Countrywide reserved for federal politicians. North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, former housing secretary Alphonso Jackson and Donna Shalala, the former Health and Human Services secretary, also benefited, according to Portfolio. Sen. Dodd and his wife will save thousands of dollars over the 30-year life of the loans because of Countryside's perks. Even still, we find it hard to believe the senator would have sold his constituency (or his reputation) so cheaply. We do think he was negligent, however, a conclusion supported by the senator's own public comments. When this story first broke, Sen. Dodd issued a haughty and uninformative statement that he "did not seek or expect any favorable treatment." "As a United States senator, I would never ask or expect to be treated differently than anyone else refinancing their home," he said. "This suggestion is outrageous and contrary to my entire career in public service." But Sen. Dodd was treated differently, and his first statement carefully avoided that point. That he didn't ask for or expect special treatment is a significant, if small, distinction. In 2003, Sen. Dodd was a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees the mortgage industry. (He's currently the committee's chairman.) Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, has since emerged as a major player in the subprime lending debacle. It's a fair question whether perks like Countrywide's VIP program had a softening effect on Sen. Dodd and others who might otherwise have nipped the problem in the bud years ago. . . . Sen. Dodd's loans are the subject of a complaint to the Senate's Ethics Committee. We've come to expect little from that body, frankly. We'd rather Sen. Dodd got off his high horse, come clean and admit he screwed up. Posted by: Mike 2008-06-23 |
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