Obama VP vetter tied to controversial mortgage company

USA Today reports:

Presidential candidates are under scrutiny these days for connections they and their associates may have to companies involved in the subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Earlier, the focus was on former Texas senator Phil Gramm, an economic adviser to presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Today it is shifting to James Johnson, part of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama's three-person team evaluating vice presidential prospects.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Saturday. The link is for subscribers only, but here's the gist:

Countrywide Financial Corp. makes mortgage loans through a vast network of offices, brokers and call centers. But a few customers have gotten their loans a special way: through Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo ... One was James Johnson, a longtime Democratic Party power and an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, who this past week was named to a panel that is vetting running-mate possibilities for the presumed nominee.

The New York Sun has more details today, including some from the Journal, along with Obama's charges that Countrywide helped "infect the economy" and create the foreclosure problem, and his critique of its executives for taking $19 million in bonuses while people were losing their homes.

Independent blogger Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic calls the Johnson situation "a problem."

We asked the Obama campaign for comment early this morning but have not received any yet.

The Republican National Committee was not so reticent. "It raises serious questions about Obama’s judgment when we learn members of his campaign leadership are receiving favors that the average American would never get," spokesman Alex Conant said in a statement. Click here to read the whole thing, and RNC research on the issue.

For more on the ethically challenged Jim Johnson,here's Mickey Kaus on the subject.