{"id":2086,"date":"2009-04-27T15:42:08","date_gmt":"2009-04-27T19:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2009-11-19T13:08:52","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T18:08:52","slug":"democratic-scandal-scorecard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/27\/democratic-scandal-scorecard\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Scandal Scorecard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most ethical Congress in History? Umm, yeah, not so much… Jim Geraghty has the list<\/a>, starting with Connecticut’s own Chris Dodd:<\/p>\n

\n

SEN. CHRIS DODD (D., CONN.): Dodd is most notably and recently in trouble for the provision of the stimulus bill that ensured\u00a0that\u00a0already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money would be\u00a0honored. In an interview with CNN, he initially denied any role in the provision.<\/p>\n

As chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Dodd tried to put together federal aid for the then-troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Dodd\u2019s homes in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., were refinanced to below-market rates under the \u201cFriends of Angelo\u201d program (meaning he was a friend of then-CEO Angelo Mozilo). He did not disclose the refinance in the six financial-disclosure statements he\u2019s filed since then and has failed to keep promises to release more information about them. He later said he knew he was part of the company\u2019s \u201cVIP\u201d program, but he didn\u2019t know being a part of the VIP program meant he would receive favorable mortgage terms. (Really.) Those noted anti-Democrat partisans on the New York Times editorial board have declared \u201chis excuses are wearing ridiculously thin.\u201d<\/p>\n

NRO and the Los Angeles Times have reported that Dodd\u2019s financial bailout legislation was \u201cexactly what Bank of America and Countrywide wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Dodd\u2019s Senate ethics filings, he has repeatedly listed the value of his \u201ccottage\u201d in Ireland as between $100,001 and $250,000. Others have assessed the value of the property at $1 million or more. He bought it with a Missouri businessman who was friends with a felon convicted of insider trading. Dodd helped secure the felon a pardon from President Clinton, and later bought his partner\u2019s two-thirds share of the property for $127,000.<\/p>\n

In summer of 2008, when he was responsible for oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Dodd argued that to \u201csuggest they are in major trouble is not accurate.\u201d Fannie and Freddie employees donated $133,900 to Dodd since 1989, more to him than to any other lawmaker.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Others on the list include Jack Murtha, Charlie Rangel, Bill Richardson & Dianne Feinstein.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most ethical Congress in History? Umm, yeah, not so much… Jim Geraghty has the list, starting with Connecticut’s own Chris Dodd: SEN. CHRIS DODD (D., CONN.): Dodd is most notably and recently in trouble for the provision of the stimulus bill that ensured\u00a0that\u00a0already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money would be\u00a0honored. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[405,634,164,59,580,633],"class_list":{"0":"post-2086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-bill-richardson","8":"tag-charlie-rangel","9":"tag-chris-dodd","10":"tag-democrats","11":"tag-dianne-feinstein","12":"tag-jack-murtha","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-xE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1700,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/chris-dodd-was-against-aigs-bonuses-before-he-was-for-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":0},"title":"Chris Dodd Was Against AIG’s Bonuses Before He Was For Them???","author":"Jeff","date":"March 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's getting so you can't follow the twist and turns in the AIG retantion bonus kerfufle without a map... It now looks like Chris Dodd was against the bonuses before he was for them but now he's against them: For a while, the disappearance of an executive bonus restriction from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2544,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/28\/ap-dodd-conrad-told-mortgage-deals-were-sweetened\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":1},"title":"AP: Dodd, Conrad Told Mortgage Deals Were Sweetened","author":"Jeff","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Associated Press is reporting that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd was told from the very start that hes was getting a VIP mortgage discount: Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture of Corruption"","block_context":{"text":"Culture of Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture-of-corruption\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2573,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/08\/senate-ethics-committee-clears-dodd-conrand\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":2},"title":"Senate Ethics Committee Clears Dodd, Conrand","author":"Jeff","date":"August 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As predicted the Senate Ethics Committee has cleared Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd of wrong doing in his dealings with Countrywide Financial: The Senate Ethics Committee on Friday dropped yearlong investigations into two powerful Senate committee chairmen, Democrats Christopher J. Dodd and Kent Conrad . The group Citizens for Responsibility and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture of Corruption"","block_context":{"text":"Culture of Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture-of-corruption\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1695,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/17\/the-hits-keep-coming-chris-dodd-was-for-aig-bonuses-before-we-was-against-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":3},"title":"The Hits Keep Coming: Chris Dodd Was For AIG Bonuses Before He Was Against Them","author":"Jeff","date":"March 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From Fox Business (emphasis mine): Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9194, 0.1393, 17.86%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2538,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/chris-dodd-hates-lobbyists-but-not-their-cash\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":4},"title":"Chris Dodd Hates Lobbyists But Not Their Cash","author":"Jeff","date":"July 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm about to say should come as no surprise... Chris Dodd is a populist hypocrite. Just days after his campaign manager Jay Howser was sending e-mail to Dodd's supporters proclaiming, \u201cBut what about the forgotten victims of Chris\u2019s efforts? What about the lobbyists? The lobbyists can\u2019t get meetings with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2220,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/19\/help-rob-simmons-retire-chris-dodd\/","url_meta":{"origin":2086,"position":5},"title":"Help Rob Simmons Retire Chris Dodd","author":"Jeff","date":"May 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Rob Simmons needs your help... He's looking for 400 donors by midnight to help him send Chris Dodd into retirement 2010. If you can chip in a few dollars, click here.","rel":"","context":"In "Announcements"","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}