Chris Dodd RAT-Conn will stay in Banking post ("I am confident I can do the greatest good")

Dodd will stay in Banking post
By PETER URBAN
Staff writer
Article Last Updated: 11/06/2008 10:57:11 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd said Thursday he intends to remain at the helm of the Senate Banking Committee next year rather than take on a new assignment in the post-election leadership shuffle.

After taking a day to consider his options, Dodd decided against succeeding Sen. Joe Biden as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will instead remain chairman of the Banking Committee -- a post he assumed in January 2007 when Democrats regained the majority in the upper chamber.

"As a United States Senator from Connecticut, there is no more important way right now that I can serve the people of Connecticut and our country than as Banking Committee Chairman," Dodd said. "In this role, at this moment, I am confident I can do the greatest good."

Biden's election as vice president will leave the Foreign Relations Committee without a chairman. As the next most senior Democrat, Dodd could have claimed the position. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is next in line, but he appears to be vying instead for a Cabinet post as secretary of state.

Dodd had also been rumored to be in the running for the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee should ailing Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., decide to step aside. Kennedy, who turns 77 in February, has returned to Capitol Hill, but is still undergoing treatment for brain cancer.

Dodd, who called a press conference at the U.S. Capitol to announce his plans for the 111th Congress, said the economy is in a terrible mess that is having real life implications for his constituents.

"Every day for the past several weeks, an average of 44 families in my state enter foreclosure -- some 16,000 in all," he said.

Dodd is up for re-election in 2010 and has seen his popularity diminish in recent state polls where voters have expressed concerns about his short-lived bid for the presidency.

By focusing on domestic issues -- particularly the economy, which voters overwhelmingly said Tuesday was their top concern -- Dodd may see this as a way to boost his support within Connecticut.

Dodd said that he hopes his committee will continue to work in a bipartisan way:

- Overseeing the Administration's implementation of the $700 billion financial bailout Congress recently approved;

- Preparing legislation to modernize the regulatory system for financial markets to include strong regulators, responsible supervision of all types of markets, more transparency and consumer protections;

- Strengthening protections for consumers in the areas of mortgage lending, credit card lending, and investor rights;

Dodd indicated that he would like Obama to nominate his economic team as soon as possible so that the committee can begin the vetting process immediately. He also suggested that Congress could enact another economic stimulus bill before the end of the year.

"Given the magnitude of the problems we face, we really cannot wait," Dodd said.

The Hartford Courant reported Nov 9 that Dodd refuses to say whether his Senate campaign committee's payments of $60,000 last summer to a Washington law firm, which has a history of representing Democratic senators in trouble, were for his defense in the Senate ethics investigation of his dealings with Countrywide. Dodd suggested, before he fled to his third home in Ireland in August, that Countrywide was not cooperating in providing information.
Dodd still claims there was nothing unusual about the $800,000 in mortgages he got from Countrywide in 2003, but records refute that, too. Documents indicate that Dodd was getting a mortgage of $276,150 on his second home in Connecticut on July 3, 2003. The amount was reduced to $275,042 and the mortgage he was refinancing was paid off. Dodd and his wife also got a home equity loan on their Connecticut property in East Haddam from Countrywide that day.
But the course those loans took was very strange. The standard routine is for the homeowner to sign the loan documents, the borrowed money is sent to the lender being paid off and the new mortgage is recorded on local land records within a few days.
Dodd, however, signed some but not all of his loan documents himself. Agents of Countrywide signed his $275,042 Connecticut mortgage. His previous mortgage with Countrywide was paid off but the new mortgage did not appear on the local land records for an astonishing 16 months.

For nearly a year and a half, Countrywide failed (or declined) to secure its interest in Dodd's home by taking the ordinary and essential step of presenting the documents to the local town clerk and recording them in the land records. This is exceedingly rare in the mortgage business.

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Heh---too bad for Dodd, mortgages leave detailed paper trails. Dodd's making the same mistake as his ousted crooked Cong father----thinking he's dealing with a bunch of amateurs----well, maybe Conn liberals (snicker).

Now, it's likely that Dodd is on his hands and knees pleading with Obama to call off the Feds. That's why we need to take other routes to see that justice is done.

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For example----Dodd (and his wife and family) are probably enrolled in high-roller comp programs at Conn casinos (and/or in other gambling venues). These programs show every nickel high rollers bet---including wins on which high rollers may not have paid taxes.

Casinos are very tightly regulated. They are more than happy to cooperate with authorities---to protect their licenses.

Casinos would also have records on the amount of untraceable casino chips Dodd (his wife and his family) received-----maybe gifts from his pal Angelo.

Authorities should also inquire if Dodd wire-transferred--- or if Angelo wire-transferred---monies into Dodd's casino account........and if taxes were paid on these monies.

Connecticut Division of Special Revenue (Gaming Control Board)
WEB SITE http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:EPdMRVRy8g8J:www.ct.gov/dosr/

Mailing Addresses:

Division of Special Revenue
555 Russell Rd.
Newington CT 06111-1523

Division of Special Revenue
P.O. Box 310424
Newington CT 06131-0424

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Another possibility: Dodd, his family, and Angelo, may have used NETeller Plc to illegally convert monies that were then transferred offhore---to overseas gambling companies, for their personal use later.

NETeller is an Isle of Man-based payment processor for gambling Web sites (suspected of having operations in the US Virgin Islands---a notorious money-laundering bank haven).

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