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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| Countrywide Dealt With More Lawmakers and Staffers Than Previously Known | |
| 2010-07-16 | |
U.S. senators or Senate employees received 30 loans--far more than had previously been known--under a controversial lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp. that provided cut-rate terms to favored borrowers.
No specific loan recipients were named in the letter. But Mr. Issa's letter said borrowers on a dozen loans listed their place of employment as the office of "Senator Robert Bennett." Available public records don't indicate that Sen. Bennett, a Utah Republican and member of the Senate Banking Committee, received a Countrywide home loan. Sens. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D., N.D.), have previously been identified among the high-profile individuals who received such loans. Both senators have denied wrongdoing. Until the Issa letter, no other senators or their staff members had been linked to the VIP loan program. A spokeswoman for Sen. Bennett didn't respond to questions. Sen. Bennett recently lost his primary election battle and will be leaving the Senate in January after 18 years. A spokesman for the Senate Ethics panel declined to comment. A spokesman for Bank of America Corp., which in 2008 acquired Countrywide, said the company had cooperated with the investigation by the House committee. The VIP program operated during the housing boom earlier this decade, often writing mortgages with terms more favorable than those available to the general public. An estimated 28,000 loans were made, mostly to private parties such as Countrywide employees or their friends and relatives. The House Oversight panel, where Mr. Issa is the ranking Republican member, is probing whether such loans were issued to public officials in an attempt to influence them. Last year, the committee subpoenaed VIP loan records from Bank of America. In his letter dated July 13, Mr. Issa wrote that on seven loans not tied to Mr. Bennett's office, the borrowers listed their place of employment as "U.S. Senator." Another 11 listed the "U.S. Senate." In response to questions, a spokesman for Mr. Issa said the House committee didn't receive the names of the borrowers from Bank of America. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Maybe in November Issa will get some more Republicans on his committee and then it won't be so easy for the donks to stonewall it. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-07-16 12:03 |
| #2 "Did you do anything unethical, Chris?" "Certainly not!" "Well, OK then..." |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-07-16 10:47 |
| #1 The Senate Ethics panel looked into the loans to Messrs. Dodd and Conrad, and last year cleared both men of any rule violations. The committee did say both "should have exercised more vigilance" in their dealings with Countrywide. On Wednesday, spokesmen for Messrs. Dodd and Conrad said questions about the senators' conduct had been resolved by the Ethics panel's findings. Wink- wink... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-16 09:21 |