2009.03.22: March 22, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Norwich Bulletin: Chris Powell writes: Dodd’s real offense is eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Dominican Republic: RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic) : RPCV Chris Dodd: Newest Stories: 2009.04.02: April 2, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Hartford Courant: Chris Dodd Down By 16 Points in Latest Quinnipiac Poll : 2009.03.26: March 26, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Westport Minuteman: The Westport Minuteman writes: Dodd's goose may be cooked : 2009.03.22: March 22, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Dominican Republic: Politics: Congress: Norwich Bulletin: Chris Powell writes: Dodd’s real offense is eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years

By Admin1 (admin) (141.157.69.165) on Saturday, April 11, 2009 - 9:55 pm: Edit Post

Chris Powell writes: Dodd’s real offense is eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years

Chris Powell writes: Dodd’s real offense is eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years

Dodd was a leading advocate of deregulation of the financial industry. Regulation of the financial industry failed completely — and a big part of that was the failure of the Senate Banking Committee, where Dodd served as chairman or ranking member. That’s why Wall Street so disproportionately financed Dodd’s re-election campaigns to the Senate and presidential campaign last year. Serving the money power was a great racket that sustained many political careers. It seemed risk-free politically, and for a long time it was. Now that it’s ruined the country, Dodd’s explaining may have only begun. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic in the 1960's.

Chris Powell writes: Dodd’s real offense is eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years

Chris Powell: Dodd’s explaining likely will go on for a long while

By CHRIS POWELL
For The Norwich Bulletin

Posted Mar 22, 2009 @ 09:42 PM

Chris Dodd explained it — begrudgingly. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he did not originate the language in the “stimulus” legislation protecting bonuses paid to executives at the bankrupt and largely nationalized insurance company, AIG. No, Dodd said, he agreed to insert the language in the bill at the request of the Treasury Department.

Because Dodd first denied having anything to do with the language and then acknowledged consenting to it, he looked bad — the more so because of concealing information about possibly too-favorable terms of mortgages he got from another tainted financial firm, and receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions from financial interests, including AIG, since his election to the Senate in 1980.

Days before explaining twice about the bonus language, a poll found Dodd, a Democrat, to be in what is, for him, unprecedented political trouble, trailing the likely Republican nominee, former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, by a percentage point. Suddenly Dodd’s nearly 30 years in the Senate look a lot less like experience and a lot more like culpability. Democrats whisper that maybe he should retire next year rather than seek re-election, giving Attorney General Richard Blumenthal the chance at the Democratic Senate nomination he long has been waiting for. Republicans worry Dodd might retire, depriving them of their first chance to win a Senate seat in 20 years.

If Dodd runs again, his evolving explanation of the bonus language and his mortgages may make the most resonant campaign issues. The Treasury Department has confirmed its responsibility for the language, and of course Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate voted for it, though few congressmen fully understood what they were doing any more than Dodd did. As for the mortgages, whatever favoritism Dodd may have gotten seems small; so far there has been more sneering than substance on that.

No, Dodd’s real offense is something else: His eagerly operating as the tool of Wall Street through many years. After former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Dodd may bear more responsibility for the collapse of the country’s financial system, and the world’s, than anyone else.

Dodd was a leading advocate of deregulation of the financial industry. Regulation of the financial industry failed completely — and a big part of that was the failure of the Senate Banking Committee, where Dodd served as chairman or ranking member.

That’s why Wall Street so disproportionately financed Dodd’s re-election campaigns to the Senate and presidential campaign last year.

Serving the money power was a great racket that sustained many political careers. It seemed risk-free politically, and for a long time it was. Now that it’s ruined the country, Dodd’s explaining may have only begun.

Chris Powell is managing editor of the Journal Inquirer in Manchester.




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Headlines: March, 2009; RPCV Chris Dodd (Dominican Republic); Figures; Peace Corps Dominican Republic; Directory of Dominican Republic RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Dominican Republic RPCVs; Politics; Congress; Connecticut





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Story Source: Norwich Bulletin

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