McCain Says he Would Fire SEC Chairman Chris Cox

[classicman]

Ok, I tried to do a little research on this whole mess - just getting started with some google searching. I'm trying to track the money. That is my thought anyway. So far, here is what I've got. Admittedly none are very current.

Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad Tied To Countrywide Scandal

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.

Countrywide
financial political loan scandal

In June 2008 Conde Nast Portfolio reported that numerous Washington, DC politicians over recent years had received mortgage financing at noncompetitive rates at Countrywide Financial because the corporation considered for the officeholders under a program called "FOA's"--"Friends of Angelo", Countrywide's Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo. The politicians extended such favorable financing included the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-ND). The article also noted Countrywide's political action committee had made large donations to Dodd's campaign.[1] Dodd also has received approximately $70,000 in campaign contributions from Bank of America, which is buying Countrywide, in the 18 months before the Countrywide Financial loan scandal broke.[citation needed] Dodd has advocated that the federal government, through the Federal Housing Administration, insure up to $300 billion in refinanced mortgages for distressed homeowners.[2]
Franklin Raines then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae on July 31, 2002
Franklin Raines then Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae on July 31, 2002

It was reported by the Wall Street Journal on 6 June 2008 that 2 former CEO of Fannie Mae: Franklin Raines and James A. Johnson, also an adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, had received loans from Countrywide. [3] On July 16, 2008, The Washington Post reported that Franklin Raines had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." [1].

On 18 June 2008, a Congressional ethics panel started examining allegations that Democratic Senators Christopher Dodd of Connecticut (the sponsor of a major $300 billion housing rescue bill) and Kent Conrad of North Dakota received preferential loans by troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. [4]

Countrywide's Many 'Friends'

Other participants in the V.I.P. program included former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Jackson was deputy H.U.D. secretary in the Bush administration when he received the loans in 2003. Shalala, who received two loans in 2002, had by then left the Clinton administration for her current position as president of the University of Miami. She is scheduled to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 19.

Holbrooke, whose stint as U.N. ambassador ended in 2001, was also working in the private sector when he and his family received V.I.P. loans. He was an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

James Johnson, who had been advising presidential candidate Barack Obama on the selection of a running mate, resigned from the Obama campaign Wednesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that he received Countrywide loans at below-market rates.

I dunno what the hell to think - Its like chasing your tail - link to link to link... getting frustrated.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by classicman

Ok, I tried to do a little research on this whole mess - just getting started with some google searching. I'm trying to track the money. That is my thought anyway. So far, here is what I've got. Admittedly none are very current.

Chris Dodd, Kent Conrad Tied To Countrywide Scandal


Countrywide
financial political loan scandal


Countrywide's Many 'Friends'



I dunno what the hell to think - Its like chasing your tail - link to link to link... getting frustrated.

From the story of the 90 year old woman that shot herself.

In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit.

Over the next couple of years, Polk missed payments on the 101-year-old home that she and her late husband purchased in 1970. In 2007, Fannie Mae assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.