{"id":2544,"date":"2009-07-28T11:18:17","date_gmt":"2009-07-28T15:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=2544"},"modified":"2009-11-19T12:49:25","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T17:49:25","slug":"ap-dodd-conrad-told-mortgage-deals-were-sweetened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/28\/ap-dodd-conrad-told-mortgage-deals-were-sweetened\/","title":{"rendered":"AP: Dodd, Conrad Told Mortgage Deals Were Sweetened"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Associated Press is reporting<\/a> that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd was told from the very start that hes was getting a VIP mortgage discount:<\/p>\n

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 nation’s largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.<\/p>\n

Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn’t know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp., the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.<\/p>\n

Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad’s two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota.<\/p>\n

Robert Feinberg, who worked in the Countrywide’s VIP section, told congressional investigators last month that the two senators were made aware that “who you know is basically how you’re coming in here.”<\/p>\n

“You don’t say ‘no’ to the VIP,” Feinberg told Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press. Read the rest…<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’ll be fun to see how Sen. Dodd tries to spin this… My guess is the Senate Ethics Committee will give Dodd and Conrad a pass. California Sen. Barbara Boxer, the committee chairman, asked Mr. Feinberg if Sens. Dodd and Conrad received VIP treatment because they were senators. Feinberg replied that was not the case; they received breaks as other influential people in Countrywide’s “friends” of Angelo VIP program… That’ll be the loophole committee members use to vote against sanctions for Dodd and Conrad.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what the Senate Ethics Committee decides Sam Caligiuri is right<\/a>, if the allegations are true it’s time for Chris Dodd to resign. The people of Connecticut deserve better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 nation’s largest lenders, the official […]<\/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_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[616,7],"tags":[164,209,772,770,773,771,769],"class_list":["post-2544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-culture-of-corruption","category-politics","tag-chris-dodd","tag-connecticut","tag-countrywide-financial-corp","tag-friends-of-angelo","tag-robert-feinberg","tag-senate-ethics-committee","tag-sweetheart-mortgage","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-F2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2573,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/08\/senate-ethics-committee-clears-dodd-conrand\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":0},"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":2086,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/27\/democratic-scandal-scorecard\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":1},"title":"Democratic Scandal Scorecard","author":"Jeff","date":"April 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":1662,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/12\/chris-dodds-irish-cottage\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":2},"title":"Chris Dodd’s Irish Cottage","author":"Jeff","date":"March 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I jokingly refer Sen. Chris Dodd as Connecticut's answer to Ted Kennedy... I'm actually starting to think that's an insult to Ted Kennedy. From the Wall Street Journal: The Senate Ethics Committee has been looking into possible conflicts of interest in Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd's 2003 mortgages. Now questions about\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":1971,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/20\/chris-dodd-taps-wall-street-for-campaign-cash\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":3},"title":"Chris Dodd Taps Wall Street for Campaign Cash","author":"Jeff","date":"April 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I wrote about Sen. Dodd's dismal in-state campaign fund raising efforts on Friday, today, thanks to the Associated Press we know much more those efforts. Sen. Dodd raised a total of $608,995 from individuals during the first quarter, only $4,250 came from Connecticut residents. The other $604,745 came from executives\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":1646,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/10\/oh-happy-day-dodd-trails-simmons\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":4},"title":"Oh Happy Day, Dodd Trails Simmons","author":"Jeff","date":"March 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Politico: Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd (D) looks like he\u2019s in serious trouble for reelection if he faces former GOP congressman Rob Simmons, according to a newly released Quinnipiac poll. Dodd trails Simmons by one point, 43 to 42 percent.\u00a0 In a head-to-head matchup with CNBC host Larry Kudlow,\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":2538,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/25\/chris-dodd-hates-lobbyists-but-not-their-cash\/","url_meta":{"origin":2544,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544","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=2544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}