The Connecticut Post reports that Senator Dodd received $27,500 in campaign contributions from the Stanford Financial Group which was recently accused of ripping off investors to the tune of $8 Billion.

Of course, Stanford made sure to spread the money around so Dodd can hardly be singled out. But, since he’s my Senator (well, not “my” Senator, but a Senator from my state) he’s the only one I can vote out of office. According to the Connecticut Post:

The top 10 list of members of the 111th Congress who received contributions from the PAC and/or employees of the Stanford Financial Group since 1989 (includes contributions to both candidate committees and leadership PACs): Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) $45,900 Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) $41,375 Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) $28,150 Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) $27,500 Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) $19,700 Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) $17,000 Rep. Charlie A. Gonzalez (D-Texas) $15,500 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) $15,100 Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas) $14,500 Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) $14,000 Source: Center for Responsive Politics

Dodd says he’ll donate the contributions to charity. The investors probably wish the money would go to them, but let’s face it – it’s only a drop in the ocean. Dodd apparently did nothing illegal or anything many others didn’t do. That just mean he’s part of a system corrupted by money. Combine this with a NY Times article that irregularities were found at Stanford but the SEC barely slapped their wrist. Perhaps it is time politicians are held accountable for the crimes of their backers.

So, was Stanford that good at hiding things, were the regulators incompetent, or did those campaign contributions buy enough goodwill that the problems found were considered “honest mistakes by good people”?

Why do we continue to think that the same people who got us into this mess are going to get us out?