Where Was Dodd on New Mortgage Regs?
By Tom Banisch
December 01, 2008
By: Heath Fahle - The Everyday republican
It is, without a doubt, a sad day in Chris Dodd world. With today's announcements from President-Elect Obama, most of the plum Cabinet posts are taken - none of them by Dodd. Short of Department of Energy or Labor or something, he'll be stuck continuing to represent dreary old Connecticut in the U.S. Senate. While this tragic set of circumstances continues to settle in, perhaps our senior Senator could set about answering questions about the ongoing global economic meltdown that was mostly precipitated by Sen. Dodd's financial backers.
According to an Associated Press investigation, the Bush Administration backed down on new mortgage regulations because the banks, and their cadre of lobbyists, furiously resisted:
The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed.
It should be of equal concern that many of the banks involved in the lobbying effort - Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Countrywide Financial - were all actors in Senator Dodd's tawdry little world. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financed election campaigns for U.S. Senate and the Presidency while Countrywide Financial not only pumped up campaign coffers with cash from what are now called "predatory loans", they also took the additional step of loaning Dodd two mortgages under their "VIP" program for high rollers - saving Dodd $70,000.
Senator Dodd would be among the first to blame the Bush Administration for failing to implement the new regulations, and it appears that this criticism is valid. But the deeper question should be asked is this: what role did Senator Dodd and the constellation of lobbyists allied with him play in killing the regulations that Dodd now blames on President Bush?
On Dodd Watch: Day 172, as the wait for Dodd's mortgage documents continues, the questions that need to be put to Dodd are piling up. The answers that he has given so far have been woefully inadequate - and that is being kind. Now largely stripped of any chance at promotion by the President-Elect, Dodd has plenty of time to start putting forward some real answers.
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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.
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