Lies, Damned Lies, and Christopher Dodd
It’s hard to decide which shady deal by Christopher Dodd is the shadiest. Maybe we need a poll.
Is it his cosiness with Countrywide?
His wife’s curious presence on several health care company boards when related business is before the Senate?
Or that quaint burgeoning scandale which of course must come to be known as Cottage-gate:
A new appraisal more than doubles the value of U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd’s Irish cottage, a vacation home that is the subject of an ethics complaint by a conservative group that questions if it was really a gift.
The property is valued at 470,000 euros, or about $660,000, on a financial disclosure report provided to The Associated Press on Friday by Dodd’s office. The previous year’s report valued the seaside home, located in County Galway, at between $100,001 and $250,000.…
Judicial Watch’s complaint alleges that Senator Dodd appeared at a hearing on behalf of Edward Downe, Jr. in 1993 to help Downe obtain a reduced sentence for violations involving tax and securities laws. In 2001, Dodd ultimately helped Downe secure a full presidential pardon for his crimes on President Clinton’s last day in office bypassing the normal pardon vetting process. In 2002, Dodd allegedly received a significantly reduced, below-market sales price, for a two-thirds interest in a property located in County Galway, Ireland, from Downe’s associate, William Kessinger.
…
“This seems a straight-up quid pro quo. Dodd helped his apparently crooked friend and seems to have received a cut-rate real estate deal on a property in Ireland in exchange. Moreover, it appears Dodd attempted to cover up the gift by failing to disclose it on his financial disclosure forms. To put it mildly, this type of behavior clearly does not reflect well on the United States Senate. We hope the Senate Ethics Committee does a thorough and speedy investigation. Federal prosecutors also need to take a look at this, as knowingly filing false financial forms is a crime,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
In 2008, Senator Dodd came under fire for receiving preferential loan terms from Countrywide Financial as a member of the company’s “VIP Program.”
The day may come when such buffoons and shysters as Chris Dodd and Barney Frank are reduced to some sort of camp vaudeville act, wearing heels and feather boas, and slapping each other with stockings filled with custard. Not that we’re far from that now.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Christopher Dodd said,
June 13, 2009 @ 11:49 am
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chris said,
June 14, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
If the United States mail was used in any way, or it is proven now that intentional false statements were made [knowing them to be false when made] in the previous years, concerning the mandate of required truthful financial disclosures[ now seemingly fraudulent disclosures] in the inflated version of the market value now, I think there may be a hint of a “criminal racketeering enterprise” if one considers any overt acts to the original consipircy of a quid pro quo and the obvious understating the fair market value of the property submited to the Senate. The cover-up will always get them in the end. How much TIME does a conviction for aledged mail fraud and racketeering get Dodd, plus the monatary fines. If convicted he should lose his pension too. All of it! Period!