Countrywide Financial

Posted at 4:03pm on Jun. 24, 2008 How dare John Cornyn demand ethics and disclosure from sitting Senators?

By Jeff Emanuel

Texas Senate Ethics Committee ranking member John Cornyn (R-TX) will introduce an amendment to the controversial mortgage/lender bailout bill that would require Senators to list their residential mortgages as liabilities on their financial disclosure forms.

The amendment, which would take effect next year, would require Senators "to disclose the date the mortgage was acquired, the rough amount, the interest rate, the term and the name and address of the creditor."

According to Roll Call, the proposed amendment, which has reportedly garnered support from at least five other Ethics Committee members, "appears designed to address the fallout from the revelation that Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the housing bill’s sponsor, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) received favorable mortgages from Countrywide Financial."

As reported here before, Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, had suspicious dealings with Countrywide Financial, the mortgage lender Sen. Barack Obama -- for whom Dodd has been a pledged Superdelegate since February -- has been railing against on the campaign trail even while appointing another beneficiary of the organization to help vet his potential Vice Presidential candidates.

Despite his shady dealings and preferential treatment from the lender (or perhaps because of it), Dodd's name is on the landmark mortgage-bailout legislation now pending in the Senate, which will bail out Countrywide, among others, using an obscene amount of taxpayer dollars.

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Posted at 4:24pm on Jun. 19, 2008 Culture of Corruption Alert

Is the media interested in Democrats pay-to-play schemes?

By Kevin Holtsberry

ImageIs it just me, or is the Democratic Party developing a "culture of corruption" based on nefarious "pay-to-play" schemes?

As evidence I would like to offer the developing scandal surrounding Countrywide Financial and the sweetheart loans for politicians. If you haven't been following the issue, Tim Carney adds some detail and connects the dots:

"We call it the 'Bank of America bill on steroids.'" A House staffer told me that, demanding anonymity, but speaking on behalf of aides to GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee.

He was talking about the bill whose Senate version has been brought to the floor this week by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-CN, and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL. Dodd-Shelby would let mortgage lenders off the hook for bad loans, shifting the burden ultimately to taxpayers. Dodd has received approximately $70,000 in campaign contributions from Bank of America in the last year-and-a-half.

Dodd-Shelby hit the Senate floor this week amid controversy over sweetheart loan deals Dodd and other powerful politicians received from Countrywide Financial, the lender with the most exposure to subprime mortgages at risk of default.

So let me understand this: Dodd got a sweetheart deal that saved him $75k, Bank of America has given him $70k in campaign contributions in the last 18 months, all while Countrywide and Bank of American stand to benefit from a bailout and he is not only the Chairman of the relevant committee but the sponsor of a bill that is up for a vote?

For more read on.

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Posted at 1:47pm on Jun. 18, 2008 Want to buy an overpriced house in Las Vegas? You’re about to!

By Matt Kibbe

Thanks to Matt for stopping by to post this. Matt Kibbe is the President of FreedomWorks. --Erick

The current correction in the housing market is painful for Wall Street and many homeowners. Not missing an opportunity to ‘solve’ a ‘crisis,’ Congress is attempting to save the day with the Dodd-Frank bailout bill that is scheduled to hit the Senate floor later today.

While supporters try to sell the bill as legislation to help folks facing foreclosure, a closer look shows who benefits and who ultimately pays.

Dodd-Frank creates a new $300 billion taxpayer loan guarantee facility that nearly doubles the size of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and allows mortgage lenders and banks to cherry-pick the worst performing and riskiest loans in their portfolios and offload them onto the FHA, creating new loans that shift 100 percent of the liability to the taxpayer.

Read on . . .

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Posted at 10:47am on Jun. 18, 2008 Demand Congress Investigate Senator Chris Dodd

By The Directors

The New York Times reports this morning that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CN) had suspicious dealings with Countrywide Financial, the mortgage lender Senator Dodd is attempting to bailout with taxpayer dollars.

According to Senator Dodd, he knew he was in a "V.I.P. program" at Countrywide Financial, but he denies that this meant he was getting special treatment from Countrywide Financial.

That's like being a member of the United States Senate and thinking you get treated just like everybody else.

Most damning, however, is that Senator Dodd is now trying to bailout Countrywide Financial with billions of taxpayer dollars.

Call your senator at 202-224-3121.

Tell your Senator there must be a full investigation to determine if Senator Dodd is operating in a quid pro quo relationship with Countrywide Financial.

Likewise, the Senate should not consider Senator Dodd's mortgage bailout proposal that benefits Countrywide Financial until we know if Senator Dodd is returning the favor of his very low interest mortgage rate.

Finally, tell your senator that Senator Dodd should step down from chairing the Banking Committee. If he is not smart enough to know being in Countrywide's "V.I.P. Program" gave him special treatment, he is not smart enough to preside over this important committee.

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Posted at 12:06pm on Jun. 13, 2008 Why is Christopher Dodd Still the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee?

And Why Are Republicans Still Known As the Party of Corruption?

By blackhedd

You’ve seen the fine reporting done by my RedState colleagues on the Jim Johnson story (Here’s Moe’s take.)

Jim Johnson is the past CEO of Fannie Mae. You know, the government-sponsored entity that buys up a huge chunk of all the home mortgages originated in this country.

Being an accomplished business executive is a fine credential to be a member of Barack Obama’s Vice-Presidential vetting committee. But it’s a bummer that Johnson has accepted low-rate loans from Countrywide Financial that are available only to friends and associates of embattled Countrywide former CEO Angelo Mozilo, as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

Obama isn’t the kind of guy to tolerate conflicts of interest among people who work for him. Therefore, he immediately denied that Johnson actually does work for him. (Johnson was running Obama’s VP-candidate vetting process, but he wasn’t actually working for Obama. I think that means that Johnson was planning to just send Obama an email with some recommendations at the end of the process, but I can’t be sure.)

Anyway, Obama got tired of being second-guessed on this, so he fired Johnson informed Johnson that he would no longer be not working for the Obama campaign.

Today, there’s this. It turns out that Jim Johnson wasn’t the only important guy to receive loans at rates you and I can’t touch.

There’s also Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut.

Now let me tell you why you need to be mad as a plucked hen about this:

Because Senator Dodd is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Along with Barney Frank, Dodd is the guy whose name will be on the landmark mortgage-bailout legislation now pending.

Haven’t I been telling you for months that bailing out homeowners who bought more house than they could afford will inevitably have the effect of bailing out mortgage lenders who had no business making those loans in the first place?

Why is Christopher Dodd accepting personal handouts from the mortgage-lending industry, while simultaneously pushing legislation to bail them out at the expense of everyone who plays by the rules?

Why is Christopher Dodd still running the Senate Banking Committee?

-Francis Cianfrocca (“blackhedd”)

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Posted at 11:48am on Jun. 13, 2008 Hey, Senator Obama! I got a couple more candidates for that party trick you do.

You know? The "___ was not the man I knew" game that everybody loves?

By Moe Lane

Looks like you have a couple more volunteers lined up. Courtesy of Conde Nast, who put something together for the weekend just for you:

Countrywide's Many 'Friends'
by Daniel Golden Jun 12 2008

Two U.S. senators, two former Cabinet members, and a former ambassador to the United Nations received loans from Countrywide Financial through a little-known program that waived points, lender fees, and company borrowing rules for prominent people.

Senators Christopher Dodd, Democrat from Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, and Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota[*], chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, refinanced properties through Countrywide’s “V.I.P.” program in 2003 and 2004, according to company documents and emails and a former employee familiar with the loans.

Really, I wouldn't even bring this up if you hadn't so obligingly dumped reluctantly accepted the resignation of James Johnson when it came out that he did the very same thing as two of your very prominent super-delegates. You see, I figure that there has to be a point where even you won't duck and cover whenever another one of your infamous judgment calls goes pear-shaped; two sitting Senators should fit the bill. Even if Chris Dodd is precisely the sort of juiced-in corporate fatcat that you're supposedly against.

Yes, yes, not the Chris Dodd that you knew. It's funny, Senator Obama: all those times that I get told about how Bush was "intellectually incurious" by the very people who are now your most avid supporters, and not once did I twig to the fact that they actually meant it as a compliment.

Go figure.

Moe Lane

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Posted at 3:45pm on Jun. 10, 2008 Why Jim Johnson Matters

By Erick

If you're scratching your head on this Jim Johnson story, as I was, watch the video I've put together below:


Obama sets standards for everyone else, but he refuses to live up to them himself and damn you for challenging him to live up to those standards.

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