Dodd may snub lobbyists, but not their cash

WASHINGTON (AP) - Facing the toughest re-election fight of his nearly 30 years in the Senate, Sen. Christopher Dodd boasts about snubbing lobbyists.

Yet even as he touts his independence, the embattled Connecticut Democrat is still cashing lobbyist campaign checks and rubbing shoulders with them at fundraisers and party gatherings.

Dodd, perhaps the most vulnerable Senate Democrat in 2010, has driven home his message in fundraising pitches and campaign videos.

Dodd's popularity has tumbled in the wake of the financial meltdown and his failed 2008 presidential bid. He provoked a home-state backlash after temporarily moving his family to Iowa before his poor showing in the caucuses there.

Dodd has been criticized for collecting Wall Street contributions while chairing the Senate banking panel. He's also come under fire for his role in writing a bill that protected bonuses for executives at bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. and for allegations he got favorable treatment on two mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp.

A recent poll showed Dodd running 9 points behind former GOP congressman Rob Simmons.

When even the Hartford Courant turns on you, you know your days are numbered.

Dodd Seen As Vulnerable in 2010 Race: “U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, already reeling from questions about his role in the Countrywide mortgage scandal and singed by the collapse of the nation’s banking industry, is being seen as increasingly vulnerable in the 2010 election.”

Plus, more questions about Dodd’s Irish “cottage:”

Mr. Dodd is busy these days blaming everyone else for the real-estate bubble and financial meltdown. But he owes his constituents and the Senate an honest accounting of his Galway property over the past 15 years. If its value grew with the rest of the area, he needs to explain why Mr. Kessinger handed it over for a song, why that isn’t an unreported gift under Senate rules, and what role Mr. Downe might have played as a middleman.

More broadly, Connecticut voters might want to know why their senior Senator has hung around for years with Mr. Downe, the kind of financial scoundrel Mr. Dodd spends so much time denouncing.

As of April, Dodd has only received a mere $4,250 in donations from actual Connecticut residents, five to be exact.

“But even if the five-term senator doesn’t have too many fans in Connecticut, they love him at Intercontinental Exchange, one of the nation’s leading exchanges trading credit default swaps and other risky financial instruments.

Executives at Intercontinental (known as ICE) donated $18,400 to Dodd’s reelection campaign during the first quarter of this year, according to the senator’s report to the Federal Election Commission this week.”

You may ask why is ICE So Dodd Friendly?

“The company was recently approved by government regulators to begin ‘clearing’ trades of derivatives, the risky financial instruments that helped take down AIG and were estimated last year to exceed the real value of the whole world’s financial holdings. ICE now has an interest in ensuring that derivatives trading remains supervised by a small group of firms, thus maximizing its ability to profit from the market.”

During this year’s first quarter, Dodd received campaign donations totaling $604,745 from nearly 400 individuals not residing in the state of Connecticut.

For example, six employees of Patton Boggs LLP, a Washington, D.C. based lobbying firm and benefactor of Obama’s stimulus plan donated $5,500 to Christopher Dodd’s campaign in one day.

During the first quarter, Dodd also collected $6,900 from employees of the financial services company Chesterfield and $437,407 from political action committees.

“Dodd raised less from Connecticut residents than he did in 18 other states and the District of Columbia, according to campaign finance documents filed Wednesday.

He took in $90,795 from Massachusetts residents, $81,550 from Texas, $56,150 from Maryland, and $53,400 from New York…. …Overall, Dodd’s campaign reported ending the first quarter of 2009 with nearly $1.4 million cash on hand, according to campaign finance documents filed Wednesday.

The $1.4 million gives Dodd a leg up on a growing field of potential Republican challengers who have yet to file financial reports on their campaign fundraising efforts….

Dodd is chairman of the Senate banking committee, and a bill being fought by the industry that would cap the annual interest rate on consumer loans at 36 percent has been referred to the committee.

‘It’s not surprising to me that he would be receiving money from payday lenders and others,’ said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money in politics.

There is a concerted effort on the part of the special interests to have a say in what emerges in legislation. … These issues are so controversial and of great interest to Chris Dodd’s constituents and all Americans, particularly in this economic climate.

Dodd’s donors in the payday industry declined to comment. But on its website, the National Pawnbrokers Association – whose members and political action committee gave a total of $10,000 – offered a number of “talking points” to counter its critics.

The association said that pawnbrokers are often the only way that low- and moderate-income people can obtain loans and that, if the bill passed, “the last option available to millions of consumers in the U.S. will be eliminated.”

The National Pawnbrokers Association, which has nearly 2,600 members, is represented by a Washington lobbying firm, whose founding member, Wright Andrews, gave $1,000 to Dodd during the current cycle.

Payday loans are small, short-term loans with annual percentage rates of 400 percent or more. One way they work is for borrowers to write a post-dated check that the lender agrees not to cash until the customer’s payday.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.