The New York Times article on the topic brings up an interesting point at the end:

Meanwhile, Representative Darrell Issa of California, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on Friday reiterated his call for a subpoena of mortgage records showing which lawmakers participated in the Countrywide V.I.P. program.

The subpoena would potentially cover mortgage records for the oversight committee chairman, Representative Edolphus Towns, Democrat of New York, who obtained two Countrywide loans for houses in Florida and Brooklyn. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Mr. Towns has resisted issuing the subpoena.

So, will we learn which of our other lawmakers received special treatment? Maybe those same ones who cleared Dodd? Hey at least now we have a precedent that there’s nothing wrong with being a “Friend of Angelo”.

I still don’t buy it that the Senator would have been a “Friend of Angelo” if he wasn’t a US Senator on a committee regulating the industry Countrywide was in. He was certainly made to feel he was getting special treatment, if he didn’t actually get special treatment it just means he was a sucker.

As for Dodd, his spokesman wrote an e-mail: “Campaign contributions do not and never have influenced Senator Dodd’s agenda and priorities. His work is always and has always been about representing the interest of the people of Connecticut.”

Campaign contributions have never influenced Senator Dodd? No wonder it was said in an email, it’s not something that can be said with a straight face. There can’t be a senator or congressman would can make that claim. A statement like that shows a complete lack of respect for the people of Connecticut and continues the Dodd tradition of crafting answers to pretend a problem doesn’t exist rather than address the actual problem. Is there anyone out there that doesn’t think money influences politics and politicians?  Hell, the New York state legislature was thrown into chaos because a campaign contributor felt he was dissed. Maybe some newly elected politians haven’t yet been tainted, but that will only last until the re-election campaign starts.

NPR was also the only news organization (at least that I’ve seen) that turned the camera away from the Senators working on a health care bill to the crowds that were watching. They posted the picture and have started to identify lobbyists in the crowd. Only 7 so far, but I suspect it’s not senators who are identifying the people in the crowd. How many lobbyists do you know?

It’s I site where I can document the reasons to elect Chris Dodd, at least as I see them. They may not be good reasons to elect a Senator, but they are the reasons. So feel free to head on over and give it a look.

It’s exhausting trying to follow Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd’s story about how and why a loophole was slipped into last month’s stimulus bill that facilitated the scandalous bonuses at AIG.

And it truly is. I can’t say which story is the truth, or if any of them are. Senator Dodd has been a politician so long he no longer bases his statements on the truth and he’s losing track of the lies. What does seem apparent is the Senator Dodd was in the room and agreed to remove an amendment that would have limited AIG bonuses.

That doesn’t fit his political posturing and own self-interest. Truth be damned. Is the man even capable of making a decision simple because it’s good for the country or the right thing to do?

Today there’s the story that bank stocks plummeted after Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the banking committee, said banks my have to be nationalized. The story was headline news, at least in most business sections. The New York Times website had the story above the fold, right next to the main picture and said:

Banking shares began to plunge Friday morning after Senator Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who is chairman of the banking committee, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that he was concerned the government might end up nationalizing some lenders “at least for a short time.”

Perhaps to help bolster bank stock Senator Dodd’s next statement can be “I resign”.

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?

Time Magazine blogs have a good rundown as to why Senator Dodd is ideally suited to tell us how the financial crisis happened.

As the Courant editoral concludes:

Countrywide wasn’t handing money to the Dodds. But the waived fees and free “float-down” to very favorable interest rates made for an extraordinarily attractive package that was designed for a select and influential few.

To me, Dodd’s actions are those attempted by a guilty man trying to generate favorable headlines while not actually answering any questions. The Senator got favorable treatment from a major instigator of the current financial disaster and now he’s allowed to help decide how millions are dollars are being spent to clean up that problem. He doesn’t admit to any mistakes or errors in judgment, just bad politics. It’s time for Mr. Dodd to leave the Senate since he doesn’t see the obvious errors in his actions.

As for refinancing the mortgages. he’s already received the waived fees and “float-down”. I suspect he’s now refinancing for a lower rate so that’s no punishment.

I suspect the real motive is he now hopes all those questions will just go away. There’s no reason they should.