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Posted on 06/15/2009 4:56:48 AM PDT by Gomez
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is likely next year to face the first real election battle of his 30-year Senate career, lashed out against media reports suggesting that his wife's lucrative positions on the boards of four health-care companies could be inappropriate. "It's offensive to my wife that you'd be even talking about it," Dodd complained on "Fox News Sunday" yesterday. Dodd, who is a key player in President Obama's health-care reform efforts, said there is "no reason" for his wife to step down and claimed she is a victim of sexism. "We don't hear these questions being raised about the male spouses of female senators," Dodd said. Jackie Clegg Dodd earned more than $344,000 in salary and options last year, according to publicly available documents. Sen. Dodd said the couple had previously hired an ethics lawyer "to make sure that these boards she serves on would in no way pose any kind of conflict whatsoever with my job in the Senate."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
What ever happened to ‘arm’s length transactions’ ????
Well...OK....I’m sure it’s all good then.
Dodd is THE poster boy for what has been wrong with government. And now his wife, too.
I forget — has Dodd been a vocal supporter of Sarah Palin? Has he expressed outrage over the mud thrown at the Palin family? No? He’s a Democrat? Oh, nevermind ...
Any little hint of conflict of interest on behalf of the GOP, however, will never be tolerated!
Earth to Rats: We don’t give a hoot whether it’s a wife or a husband or a brother in law or a “gay” partner. It’s wrong. Besides aren’t you the sexual equality folks?
Just because he kept his wife out of the waitress sandwich with Teddy K doesn’t mean his family is off limits. Ask Sarah Palin.
Was Dodd the senator who got preferential VIP treatment with loans from CountryWide???
Doesn’t seem as tho they needed it, with wifey’s income...for exactly how many hours of work a year?
What about a conflict of interest charge? How can she act on the boards of 4 different groups without some sort of conflict of interest?
When I was a self-employed bookkeeper, I didn’t take multiple clients who were in the same kind of business. It just felt like a conflict of interest.
Tuff doddd... she is part of your organized crime syndicate.
LLS
Heck, even NOW is incensed over the Palin mud. This guy is a sexist ass.
What ever happened to ‘arm’s length transactions’ ????
Let Dodd go cry on Sarah Palin’s shoulder!
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Must be another thing he has in common with Bernie Madoff.
I can understand problems with multiple board membership and certainly with multiple legal representation, but how is bookkeeping compromised?
Demonrats always think laws are for the ‘little people’. They are the true elitist snobs who will not abide by laws and rules they apply to everyone else. The new royalty needs to be overthrown.
It will be overthrown when the average American can no longer stomach it.
Ethics lawyer = oxymoron
Hey, toad! Ever hear about Pelosi's husband? Or Feinstein's?
<
It's offensive to taxpayers that Dodd and Barney Frank are still in congress.
... claimed she is a victim of sexism.
Glad to see this fresh deflection. The "it's racist" schtick is battle-worn. Plus, it probably wouldn't work in this situation.
Does Connecticut have a recall provision? Is there some way to cut his wife out of influential access?
“We don’t hear these questions being raised about the male spouses of female senators”
Where was he in all the protests of Bill’s conflict of interest with Sen Clinton?
And the conflicts of Boxer, Feinstein and Pelosi?
So let's see what Mrs. Dodd is doing for the money.
It comes down to the appearance of impropriety, compared to the reality. Some practitioners don't want the appearance at all, so they limit the client base to those in very different businesses or industries.
The tricky part is when client B says, "do you know somebody else I can talk to about this?"
And I don't mean to speak for the person you asked the question to, but the topic is common across bookkeepers, accountants, and other professions that end up knowing a lot about the client's business and how they do it.
“Demonrats always think laws are for the ‘little people’”
Obama saw no conflict of interest in his wife being hired by a hospital for a very lucrative salary when he was working on health matters in the Illinois Senate. Why should Dodd? In their view, they are doing the “work of the people” and hence are above reproach and suspicion. Bill Clinton sees absolutely no shame in trading on his presidency to massively enrich himself. In their worldview, only greedy Republicans are capable of exploiting their positions of power to serve their own self-interests rather than the public interest. Arrogance doesn’t begin to describe this self-serving view of the world.
Are you talking about their bedroom?
He wants to steal from us until his dying breath.
BS, Dodd. Your wife is going down with you.
Really? Are you sure? You're positive?
Without even searching, I've got two words for you, Senator Dud.
FEINSTEIN/BLUM
You're a crook, and your wife's a crook - hell, you're dog's probably a crook.
Keep digging, Senator. Please, keep digging.
The corruption of the left has come out of the closet into the light of day, and the MSM continues to talk about the ‘Bama’s dog and Michelle’s arms.
Dodd is like an 8-track tape player that still operates but can play only one song......over and over.....
Hey Chrissy, we have tried to point out Nancy Pelosi's husband's lucrative windfalls from deals that Nancy brokered. Don't blame us if the media ignores it.
Ahhh the big shots don’t like it when the shoe is on the OTHER food do they?
MEANT to say other FOOT not food. :)
But it’s OK for the left to trash the Palins?
If his wife is on the boards of four health care organizations that Dodd is regulating, meaning government control, then it’s a political issue.
Hiding not only behind his wife's skirts but every other woman he can find...............pathetic dodd. Simply pathetic.
Thanks a lot Chris, Love Diane & Barbara
maybe Letterman will champion his cause...
“Leave my sandwich meat alone” ping.
What, is she a crook, too?
DODD’S WIFE, TOO, HAD MONEY LINK TO AIG
March 25, 2009
Senate banking-committee Chairman Christopher Dodd who has received $280,000 in campaign contributions from AIG isn’t the only person in his family to benefit from a relationship with the embattled insurance behemoth.
His wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, worked as an outside “director” for a Bermuda-based company affiliated with AIG, according to a report.
(snip)
(no links)
Congress members’ spouses earn big - State’s lawmakers disclose earnings
Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT) - Sunday, June 15, 2003
Author: PETER URBAN
WASHINGTON - As they toil away under the Capitol dome, Connecticut lawmakers have relied on their spouses in varying measures to bring home the bacon.
Rep. Christopher Shays’ wife works for the Peace Corps.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s husband is an internationally known pollster.
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd’s wife has her own consulting business.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman’s wife has been on the speech circuit for the last two years.
(snip)
Sen. Christopher Dodd As a bachelor in 1992, Dodd reported less than $30,000 in assets in two bank accounts. And he earned $400 for a cameo appearance in the movie, “Dave.” Dodd donated his fee to charity.
Now married, Dodd has a cottage in Ireland worth between $100,000 and $250,000, and a Senate credit union account worth between $15,000 and $50,000. Dodd owes between $115,000 and $300,000 on mortgages on the Irish cottage.
His wife, Jackie Clegg , operates her own consulting firm and serves as a director of a Bermuda-based reinsurance company, IPC Holdings , Ltd.
Clegg owns property in Utah and a condominium in Washington, D.C., that together are valued between $30,000 and $100,000. She also has a Senate credit union account worth between $50,000 and $100,000.
“She’s got her own career here,” said Ryan McGinn, a spokeswoman for Dodd.
A Utah native, Clegg came to the nation’s capital fresh out of college to work for former Sen. Jacob Garn, R-Utah, and then as a staff member for the Senate Committee on Banking. After a decade working on Capitol Hill, Clegg was appointed to the Export-Import Bank in 1993.
President Clinton appointed her first vice president and vice chairman of the Export-Import Bank in 1997, where she served until his term expired. Clegg opened her own consulting firm after leaving the bank. She was also asked to become a director of IPC Holdings .
Dodd, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, spearheaded legislation that offers insurance companies some protection from massive losses due to terrorist attacks. McGinn said Dodd’s work on that legislation was largely at the behest of Hartford-based insurance companies and had absolutely no connection with Clegg .
(snip)
...
Tax stances of senators don’t match wives’ deals
Norwich Bulletin (CT) - Monday, September 6, 2004
Author: Norwich Bulletin, Katherine Hutt Scott, Staff
By KATHERINE HUTT SCOTT
Norwich Bulletin
WASHINGTON - Connecticut’s Democratic senators, Joe Lieberman and Christopher Dodd, want to eliminate a legal loophole that allows U.S. companies to reincorporate overseas - often in Bermuda - to avoid taxes.
But the senators’ wives have had financial or business interests that aren’t completely compatible with the goal of ending corporate tax evasion.
Lieberman’s wife, Hadassah, owns stock valued at between $1,001 and $15,000 in Tyco International Ltd., according to the senator’s 2003 personal financial disclosure form filed with the Senate. Tyco, formerly based in New Hampshire, reincorporated in Bermuda in 1997 to legally reduce its U.S. tax burden.
Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg , served on the board of Bermuda-based IPC Holdings Ltd., a reinsurance company, according to Dodd’s 2003 disclosure form. The company’s offshore location allows another U.S. firm that is a major shareholder in IPC Holdings to avoid paying some taxes to the federal government.
The senators say there is no inconsistency between their public positions and their wives’ financial or business dealings.
(snip)
Dodd voted in favor of the bill to stop U.S. companies from reincorporating overseas to avoid taxes both times the measure has come to a vote in the Senate, spokesman Marvin Fast said.
“The fact that Senator Dodd has consistently and repeatedly fought legislatively to enact the tax reform measure should highlight in no uncertain terms his independence on this issue,” Fast said.
Passage of the legislation would not change the law that allows American International Group Inc. - the firm with a stake in IPC Holdings - to avoid paying some taxes. But Fast said Dodd would be “willing to review” any proposals to change that law. There has been no push in Congress for a change.
Larry Noble, executive director of the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics, said Hadassah Lieberman’s investment in Tyco and Clegg ‘s former seat on the board of IPC Holdings “reflect low levels of hypocrisy” because their husbands support closing the reincorporation tax loophole.
“The next step is to put their money where their beliefs are,” Noble said. “Which is to say that you don’t invest in companies or be involved with companies that are acting contrary to our national interest.”
Noble added, “The bills still have to be paid, so the tax burden is then shifted to the average citizen who can’t take advantage of these tax loopholes.”
Spokespeople for Sens. Lieberman and Dodd said the senators’ wives would not comment.
Twenty-four U.S. companies have relocated to the Caribbean tax havens of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Panama and Antigua, according to a list compiled by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass. Most went overseas between 1997 and 2002, as companies came under increasing pressure to report profits, said Peg McGlinch, Neal’s legislative director.
Bermuda, the most popular offshore location, has no corporate income tax. The U.S. corporate income tax rate is 35 percent.
Dodd and Lieberman were early co-sponsors of legislation introduced by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, that would change the tax code to require U.S. companies that reincorporate overseas in the future to pay taxes. The bill also would limit the ability of Tyco and other companies that have already moved offshore to reap tax benefits. That legislation is part of a major tax bill under consideration by Congress.
(snip)
Dodd’s wife served as a director of IPC Holdings from July 2001 until this past March, according to documents the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company was created with capital raised by AIG, an insurance company, and other investors in 1993, after Hurricane Andrew decimated the reinsurance industry, IPC Holdings President Jim Bryce said.
Bermuda was an attractive location as a major insurance market. It also offered a tax advantage for AIG
That’s because AIG owns only 24.3 percent of IPC Holdings . By law, U.S. investors or companies that own less than 25 percent of a foreign insurance company don’t have to pay taxes on their share of the foreign company’s income, said Philip West, an international tax lawyer in Washington.
In 2003, IPC Holdings reported a profit of $260.6 million, according to filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.
(snip)
Let’s call Sarah Palin and ask what IS legitimate “conflict of interests” then ....
But Dodd is a democrat, and so the issue of HIS wife getting money from CERTAIN SPECIFIC health care industries while HE regulates certain health care industries is “not news.”
(Of course, democratic corruption is “not new” any anyway.)
I find this is the most maddening statement in the entire article!
Senators no longer represent the state (the ill-conceived 17th Amendment took care of that) nor the people of the state (the lengthy 6 year term has taken care of that).
Dodd has has spent his life in "public service". He is the poster boy for term limits and shorter terms. Thirty years is a long, long time for one man to run the levers of national government.
It works pretty well for him, though. He's made a lot of money off his insider status and is rich. Even his wife gets to cash in on his position.
Dimwits are shameless and all need to be thrown out of office.
The sad truth is almost ALL senators become rich by having family members paid by those they regulate. Think Michelle and her $350K job...done while campaigning full time for her husband. How many folks do you know who are told, “We’ll double your salary, and you won’t even need to show up for work!”
If I were a senator working health care, you can bet my wife and 3 dogs would all be getting job offers left and right from hospitals and insurers. There aren’t many honest enough to tell them to pound sand.
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What now? Did A-Rod knock her up, too?