Chris Dodd: Lying crapweasel
This meme seems to be catching on. The Hartford Courant has been pounding on Dodd for several months and the New Haven Register is now on board:
EDITORIAL: Dodd lied about AIG bonuses
New Haven Register
Friday, March 20, 2009 6:23 AM EDT
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 York man, who was later convicted in a huge stock swindle, picked up much of the cost of a condo Dodd bought in Washington; or that the stock swindler’s business partner out of a love of Ireland did the same for Dodd when the senator bought a waterfront house in Ireland.
Now, Dodd flat-out has lied about his role in legislation that is allowing employees of American International Group to receive $400 million in bonuses despite receiving $173 billion in taxpayer money to keep the failed financial giant alive.
We praised Dodd on March 9 for authoring an amendment to the $787 billion stimulus bill that barred the top executives and highest-paid workers at companies that took government bailout money from receiving bonuses. Sharply down in opinion polls, Dodd was riding the wave of public anger at Wall Street’s greed.
What Dodd did not reveal at the time was that there was a provision in his amendment that exempted any bonuses, including AIG’s, in contracts dated prior to Feb. 11. The exemption was cited by Obama administration officials as the reason they were powerless to stop AIG’s payment of the bonuses.
CNN, the cable television news channel, Tuesday asked Dodd about the loophole. Dodd told CNN it was not in the bill when it left the Senate. "I can’t point a finger at someone who offered a change at all," Dodd said. Asked if he later determined how the loophole was added, Dodd said, "I really don’t know."
Wednesday, Dodd was forced to admit to CNN that he was responsible for the loophole after the Treasury Department said it had asked Dodd for the change. Dodd had the good grace to apologize for his Tuesday lie; but, he tried to shift some responsibility to his staff, claiming it, not he, had spoken with Treasury officials.
Dodd claims he was unaware of the AIG bonuses when he changed the language of his amendment to allow them. Dodd, however, is more than familiar with AIG. Its Financial Products unit, which helped drive AIG to the brink of bankruptcy, has headquarters in Wilton. As a member and now chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over AIG’s industry, Dodd has received more campaign money, $281,038, from AIG than any other member of Congress.
Dodd’s lie about the bonus loophole should haunt him next year when he seeks re-election. He has broken a bond with voters who expect honesty from their elected officials. |
