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Senators Caught in Mortgage Fallout
The New York Times ^ | June 14, 2008 | LESLIE WAYNE

Posted on 06/13/2008 7:54:09 PM PDT by mdittmar

When Senator Kent Conrad wanted a mortgage for his beach house,he turned to a Washington insider, Johnson, former head of Fannie Mae, the government mortgage giant, who then put the senator in touch with Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial.

The ensuing telephone call between Mr. Conrad of North Dakota and Mr. Mozilo led to two Countrywide mortgages, including one in which the company bent its rules to give Mr. Conrad a loan.

Those loans are among a number of Countrywide mortgages at the center of an examination into whether a number of top politicians in Washington — members of Congress, the cabinet and celebrated advisers — received favorable deals from a company whose lax lending standards are at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis.

This week, Mr. Johnson, whom Mr. Conrad turned to for help, was forced to step down as head of Senator Barack Obama’s vice-presidential selection committee in part over Countrywide home mortgage loans that Mr. Johnson had received at favorable rates.

At the center of the scrutiny are the activities of Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program, also known as the “Friend of Angelo” program, in which Countrywide appeared to bend its lending rules for prominent people. Now, many of those receiving Countrywide home mortgages say they were not aware the company might have been working behind the scenes to give them favorable loan terms.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a leader in the effort to help homeowners caught in the subprime mortgage crisis, denied on Friday that he received preferential treatment for his two Countrywide loans.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; US: Connecticut; US: North Dakota
KEYWORDS: 110th; chrisdodd; congress; corruptdems; corruption; countrywide; govwatch; kentconrad; mediabias; mozilo; nyt; perks; ussenate
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To: MHGinTN

‘Caught’?

You know what. All of us are guilty if we let them get away with this.


21 posted on 06/13/2008 8:19:00 PM PDT by FMBass ("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
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To: Ann Archy
For SOME reason the HUD guy is ALWAYS CORRUPT, no matter what admin.

That is true. Like the Department of Education, another useless money pot that unqualified individuals get put in charge of to pay off party supporters.

22 posted on 06/13/2008 8:21:01 PM PDT by OCC
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To: FMBass

Okay. Explain how you, yes you, can change this.


23 posted on 06/13/2008 8:24:36 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: MHGinTN

Democrat representatives (and a few pubbies like Cunningham) rely on the disconnect and insulation from the peon’s laws.


24 posted on 06/13/2008 8:26:22 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: mdittmar
Dodd is the chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee. He should be removed from that position immediately.
25 posted on 06/13/2008 8:30:29 PM PDT by advance_copy (Stand for life or nothing at all)
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To: highpockets

What has got me laughing uncontrollably is that this guy Dodd is supposed to be writing the reform of the laws to correct the sub prime mortgage mess!

A third party isn’t going to help. A fourth party isn’t going to help. Convicting these monuments to greed and having them serve time would help.


26 posted on 06/13/2008 8:33:37 PM PDT by FMBass ("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
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To: MHGinTN

see post #3


27 posted on 06/13/2008 8:34:21 PM PDT by FMBass ("Now that I'm sober I watch a lot of news"- Garofalo from Coulter's "Treason")
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To: mdittmar

The NY Times *buried* this story down in their U.S. Politics section on a Saturday.

It would have been Page 1 for weeks if those two Senators were Republicans.


28 posted on 06/13/2008 8:42:07 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: mdittmar

and the RATS, take another one in the..................HA ha!!!

29 posted on 06/13/2008 8:52:19 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©® - CTHULHU/SHOGGOTH '08 = Nothing LESS!!!)
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To: TheBattman
My Friend, you can buy a Senator with campaign cash. In fact, Mr. Keating bought five senators in 1987 and then proceeded to blow away three billion dollars backed by taxpayer money. The system works my Friend. Save your money and you too can purchase a senator, and have tax payers fund your life style. America is good when you own a Senator or two..... or five.
30 posted on 06/13/2008 10:13:36 PM PDT by PA-RIVER
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To: mdittmar

Looks like the Countrywide honey pot spilled on some greedy folks. Just apply feathers.


31 posted on 06/13/2008 10:18:47 PM PDT by afnamvet
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To: caisson71

I would like a roll call response on whether each congressional has actually read any of the bills coming up for vote and if they have not read the bill, then they ought not to be allowed to vote on something they haven’t even read.

They’re sitting there collecting $162,500 (I believe it is now) and exactly what are they doing to earn their keep? They political hacks. Certainly not representing their constituents. The least they could do is read the bills. Maybe then they’d at least realize when big sections of a bill might just be missing.


32 posted on 06/13/2008 10:22:40 PM PDT by quintr
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To: advance_copy
Getting loans at a discounted rate because you make bank laws that govern the guy lending you the money?

This is gooood. On its face, I would call it a bribe, because, well, thats what it is. A bribe. A Republican would go to jail for this....See Duke Cunningham.

33 posted on 06/13/2008 10:26:24 PM PDT by PA-RIVER
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To: FMBass
Stock tip: Buy Home Depot and Lowes. I’m headed out for a pitchfork for the march on Washington that I know is coming soon to remove these phony baloney crooks.

I'm going to buy the rope and shovels. ;o)

34 posted on 06/13/2008 10:28:24 PM PDT by NRA2BFree (If you need help, ask God. If you don't, thank God!)
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To: originalbuckeye
The beneficiaries of these ‘reduced’ loans seem to be quite Democrat in persuasion.

Yep, and of course, the word Democrat never appears anywhere in the article.

35 posted on 06/13/2008 10:34:16 PM PDT by Libertarian444
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To: mdittmar

This is worse than first look. When Mozila was questioned on the hill they softballed the questions and even told him they were not going to grill him.

Next Dodds wants to pass the 300 billion mortgage bailout bill at taxpayer expense which would benefit Countrywide- CFC. Dodds apparently wasn’t just asleep at the switch when the subprime mortgage was becoming a problem, he looked away.

Of course without Gramm-Leach-Billey Act repealing the depression era bank safeguards bill Glass-Steagall would have helped prevent the credit crisis we are in now. Throw in the do-gooder pressure to give loans to people without credit and this is what we have. Add Congress doing away with tax deductibility of car and credit card loans, then houses became the ATM of choice. Unintended consequences, plain stupidity or corruption, take your choice.

For those of you that don’t follow the credit crisis closely, IMO we are on the brink of a major economic disaster, caught between inflating the dollar and raising interest rates. The Federal reserve, Congress, the SEC and others have failed miserably in doing their jobs in this area and now we face the consequences. The subprime problem is now growing to alt a loans, arms and other foolish loans, and is not going away in the near future. We will have literally hundreds of broken banks and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also in danger of need of being federalized at taxpayer expense. Greed and Corruption is now responsible for the coming hard times. We are trillions in debt and must finance that debt. The dollar is falling in value and oil rising. If interest rates do not go up at least equal to inflation rates, treasury note buyers will go elswhere and we will be in deep caca. Raising interest rates will not help the housing market or jobs. Truly we are on knife’s edge, but Bernanke and the FED needs to raise interest rates and let some Wall Streeters go broke or our whole economy will collapse. The SEC and FBI need to do some quick enforcement or there will be no trust in our government and no stopping of the fraud and greed. Its time to take a little pain or shortly we will take a lot.

Get the pitchforks ready its time for housecleaning.

Interesting item below about the Dodds deal:

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/466-Wheres-The-FBI-Weekend-of-614.html


36 posted on 06/14/2008 2:37:44 AM PDT by rolling_stone (same)
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To: mdittmar
“Obama has set such high standards on ethics,” said James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington. “If indeed Chris Dodd got below-market loans, it could be a disqualifier for someone being considered for an important appointment.”

Funny stuff.

37 posted on 06/14/2008 4:02:18 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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To: mdittmar
As the Clintons have shown the world, there are 8 million ways to funnel a kickback or bribe to a politician.
38 posted on 06/14/2008 4:13:03 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

I need a mortgage for a new house.
I think I’ll call Fannie Mae and as for a VIP LOAN that Dodd got.


39 posted on 06/14/2008 5:20:41 AM PDT by Oldexpat
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To: FMBass

Why was that funny? That is what I heard someone on CNBC say.


40 posted on 06/14/2008 5:27:24 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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