Free Republic

Chris Dodd is likely not the most corrupt politician to ever grace our landscape, though he will give a lot of folks a good run for their corrupt practices money. What is truly stunning about Dodd's corruption is the combination of its brazen nature, his proximity to power and influence in the one industry most in need, and that no one seems to much care besides the voters of Connecticut hopefully in November of 2010.

Republican state Sen. Sam S.F. Caligiuri - a former mayor of his hometown of Waterbury - has summoned reporters and supporters to his home on Tuesday morning for "an important announcement about his future plans with regards to the 2010 United States Senate race in Connecticut." Could this be the official start of his campaign? Caligiuri and his people aren't precisely saying, but the e-mail sent to reporters is titled "kickoff press advisory.'' Caligiuri's intentions appear quite obvious. The page with the directions to Caligiuri's home says, "Sam Caligiuri U.S. Senate'' across the top and "Paid For By Sam Caligiuri...

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck has already shown he’s a rating success and is leaving a mark in cable news. However, he may have pulled one of his most successful performances yet. Beck interviewed Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on his March 30 broadcast. But, the radio and TV host took the opportunity to tell Blumenthal what he thought of his investigation into the bonuses received by American International Group (AIG) executives – whose company received federal bailout money. “Look, you know what you have done, know what you have done?” Beck said. “You have – you are an...

First we find out that Christ Dodd - the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee - had received more money from the most slimeball of the big Wall Street players than anyone with the possible exception of now-president Barack Hussein. Then we find out that Chris Dodd wrote a clause that essentially specifically exempted AIG bonus money in Barack Hussein's stimulus package - but only at the direct behest of Barack Hussein's Treasury Department, Dodd hastened to add. Now we find out that AIG was basically under the distinct impression (and we can only wonder how they got that impression)...

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D.-Conn.) is being harshly criticized in his home state for a sweetheart mortgage deal he was given by Countrywide Financial and played dumb about and his role in the AIG bonus debacle. Here are excerpts from various major Connecticut newspapers’ editorials about the state’s senior senator. New Haven Register “We’re not going to mince words. Chris Dodd is a lying weasel. It is hard enough to swallow that the senator had no idea that he got preferential treatment on his home mortgages that saved him thousands of dollars. Or that, simply out of friendship, a wealthy New...

As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give. Getty Images Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has lost some political standing heading into re-election because of his ties to American International Group Inc. The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in...

The spectacle of the very same people responsible for one of the nation's great financial calamities angling to be given even more control to fix the problem would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Rep. Barney Frank, the Democrat who sits atop Congress' efforts to deal with the financial crisis, has enough chutzpah for 100 politicians — which is saying a lot. In comments before testimony from both Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Fed chief Ben Bernanke Tuesday, Frank said he wants to regulate pay on Wall Street — even for companies that aren't getting bailouts. And he called...

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. The Connecticut Democrat's wife worked at IPC Holdings Ltd. for three years, beginning in 2001, according to a proxy statement obtained by Real Clear Politics. She was paid $12,000 a year for her job, plus an extra $1,000 for every directors and committee meeting she attended, according to...

It had been one of the many points of contention against CNBC by the left-wing attack machine - that "The Kudlow Report" host Larry Kudlow was using his show as a platform to make a run at the U.S. Senate in 2010 against Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd. Well, they're going to have to find another way to try to marginalize Kudlow, as they have with other CNBC personalities. Kudlow announced on his March 24 broadcast that he would not seek a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2010. The CNBC host explained he was approached by the Republican Party to...

No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG. Dodd has been one of the company's favorite recipients of campaign contributions. But it turns out that Senator Dodd's wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well. From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an "outside" director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG. IPC, which provides property casualty catastrophe insurance coverage, was formed in 1993 and currently has a market cap of $1.4...

An Oversight and Government Reform Committee Republican report Countrywide Financial Corporation’s infamous VIP and Friends of Angelo Program offers new insight into the inner workings of Countrywide’s efforts to buy friends in critical government and industry positions affecting the company’s business interests. “This investigation finds that Countrywide embarked in a determined and calculated effort to buy influence – employees openly weighed the political influence of targeted officials when deciding what perks to offer,” said Issa. “Countrywide VIPs in positions of key responsibility didn’t innocently stumble into loans with reduced rates and waived fees – they were recruited into the program...

Dodd's Wife a Former Director of Bermuda-Based IPC Holdings, an AIG Controlled Company By Kevin Rennie No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG. Dodd has been one of the company's favorite recipient of campaign contributions. But it turns out that Senator Dodd's wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well. From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg-Dodd served as an "independent" director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG. IPC, which provides property casualty...

Everybody makes mistakes, and I made a beaut the other day. I was wrong to call members of Congress blow-hards and buffoons and declare them worse than useless. I was too kind. I should have said our representatives are gangsters in pinstripes and pearls. They are petty tyrants and the more power they grab, the more at risk we are. Homeland Security should flash Code Red any time this Congress is in session. It is twilight in America now. The House vote to use the tax code to retroactively punish bonus babies was an act of sheer madness. What started...

Three days after announcing his plan to take on Connecticut's senior senator, Rob Simmons breezed past a bunch of kids sitting in the gym of the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London. It wasn't a political appearance: Simmons was here to talk about moon rocks. "You want to shake the hand of the man who shook the hand of the man who went to the moon?" said the lanky 66-year-old with thinning gray hair and a toothy grin. A former congressman who was swept aside in the 2006 Democratic wave, Simmons long has been known as a fiscally conservative,...

"I am such a scumbag, I think it is time for me to go down." Barney Frank got totally excited when Dodd said, "I think it is time for me to go down." Rahm Emanuel sprang into action. Rahm instructed Dodd to send a memo to Barney Frank: "Calm down, Barney, this is not what you think it is." Unfortunately, Rahm's message came too late. Barney had already left a message for Chris Dodd ......saying that he could not wait to see Dodd's (cough) package." BACKSTORY Senator Dodd Calls For His Own Resignation; Barney’s Fannie Mae Be Hanging Out...

DODD writes: In the last week, there's been confusion over my role in limiting excessive compensation and AIG bonuses. With so many conflicting reports about this whole matter, I wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight. [Skip to the nut of it] This past Tuesday, I misunderstood a question in a television interview about whether I inserted a date to protect AIG — and I answered that I most certainly did not. When I saw that my comments had been misconstrued, I felt it important to set the record straight — that this had nothing to do...

Hannity's Liars Club http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3901457&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/gossip/index.html

Senator Dodd Calls For His Own Resignation A Second TimeBarney’s Fannie Mae Be Hanging Out Too By William Kevin Stoos Saturday, March 21, 2009 -Satire-In a rare moment of candor and self introspection, Senator Chris “Always Interested in Gifts” Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, called Stoos Views today to confess that he is a “hypocritical, duplicitous no- good scam artist “ [sic] who has shaken down Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, obtained preferential loans from Countrywide, and was the beneficiary of $103,000 in contributions from A.I.G., during his recent 2008 Presidential election campaign. He used his interview with...

Howard Rosenblatt voted for U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd five years ago. He won't do that again. "It's time for Chris to resign," said the 62-year-old owner of Rosenblatt's department store in Naugatuck, Conn., a working-class borough of more than 30,000. "He sits on the Senate banking commission, and he had his hands on funny money loans." Earl Reilly, a 59-year-old factory worker from Naugatuck, shares Rosenblatt's anger with the state's senior senator. "Don't get me started on Dodd," he said. "He's been doing the job too long, and he's got a hole in his canoe and it's sinking." While Dodd,...

A defiant Sen. Chris Dodd defended his actions on bonuses for AIG executives Friday as news surfaced that a senior company executive was returning his $6 million bonus. Dodd said he was misled on the issue of bonuses for AIG executives. He claimed he would not have drafted key legislative changes allowing the bonuses to move forward if he knew the purpose of those changes. Meanwhile, a senior AIG executive said through a company spokesman that he will return his $6 million bonus. The executive, Doug Poling, is returning the money "because it's the correct thing to do," said Mark...