It's not easy being a U.S. senator. People trick you into taking special favors you didn't even know existed. Shame on these unscrupulous people!You'll want to read the whole thing.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, both Democrats, fell victim to the machinations of Countrywide Financial, which gave them breaks on mortgages as part of the "Friends of Angelo" program; the "Angelo" in question is Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.
Most alleged victims of Countrywide were gulled into taking loans with onerous interest rates and excessive fees. But they don't know the agony of life as a U.S. senator, when at any moment a powerful, well-heeled interest might take advantage of you with cut-rate loans. Consider the plight of Conrad.
When it was revealed that he got special deals from Countrywide, his rejoinder was that he had never met Mozilo. Subsequently, Conrad admitted he had talked to him on the phone. As he recounts in a letter to the Wall Street Journal, Conrad "called a close friend of mine who knew a lot about mortgages for advice. My friend happened to be with the head of Countrywide Financial when I called and put him on the line."
What an unfortunate coincidence: An innocent loan inquiry and Sen. Conrad gets put on the phone with a CEO with myriad high-stakes interests before Congress. Most people asking about their mortgages don't get put through to the CEO, but they don't live with the burdens of senatordom. Conrad was particularly vulnerable because, apparently a financial naif, he's only chairman of the Senate Budget Committee that sets the parameters for the $3 trillion federal budget.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Democratic Senators:Campaign Contributions For Mortgage Deals?
Rich Lowry reports:
