Saturday, March 21, 2009

Flat out: Sen. Dodd lied - The Middletown Press (middletownpress.com)


Flat out: Sen. Dodd lied - The Middletown Press (middletownpress.com)
Posted by Frank Smith at 21.3.09

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Dodd were Pinochio, his nose would reside in multiple time zones!

March 21, 2009 at 6:50 PM
Anonymous said...

Dodd is just like our own little Phil Sherwood, you can tell if he is lying by checking to see if his lips are moving!

March 21, 2009 at 7:41 PM
Anonymous said...

At least we can look forward to Senator Rob Simmons! It will be nice to have an honest man representing Connecticut for a change.

March 22, 2009 at 12:20 AM
Anonymous said...

courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-dodd-election-trouble.art.artmar22,0,3710554.story

Courant.com
Dodd's Self-Inflicted Wounds Taking Toll
March 22, 2009

Connecticut's senior U.S. senator dealt his 2010 re-election prospects another blow this past week when he changed his story about his role in the outrageous bonuses paid to executives of AIG after it was given more than $170 billion in federal aid to keep from collapsing.

It was the latest in a series of gaffes that are making some constituents question Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's candidacy for a sixth term. With the luck of the Irish and 18 months to go to the election, he may recover. But you only get so many chances.

Sen. Dodd, for years a powerful, unbeatable Senate Democrat and once his party's national chairman, has been in re-election trouble for some months now, according to public opinion polls. It started with public irritation over his failed presidential campaign last year and unsatisfactory answers he gave to questions about a favorable mortgage deal he got on residences in East Haddam and Washington, D.C., from the mortgage giant Countrywide Financial, which came under his regulatory sway on the Senate banking committee.

Recent questions raised about two other real estate deals he's made in the past 23 years — for property in Ireland and in Washington — have also fueled the fire.

Some of the dissatisfaction may simply stem from the fact that Mr. Dodd has been in the Senate for nearly 30 years and had been in the House for three terms before that.

Yet it must be said in fairness that he has been a hardworking, productive and charismatic lawmaker. Among many other accomplishments, he wrote the Family and Medical Leave Act and co-authored the Help America Vote Act, which helped voters trust elections again after the 2000 Florida debacle.



Flip-Flop On AIG Bonuses
Mr. Dodd's approval ratings have sunk to record lows, although there was a mild rally in the last Quinnipiac University poll. In one hypothetical match-up, the senator trailed former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons by a point.

But Mr. Dodd's flip-flop this past week on whether he played a part in protecting the bonuses paid to AIG executives who almost caused the insurance colossus to fail could be his undoing. Public outrage over the $165 million or more in bonuses paid to these badly performing executives is palpable.

Mr. Dodd himself joined the howling mob, saying Monday that "this is another outrageous example of executives — including those whose decisions were responsible for the problems that caused AIG's collapse — enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers."

Indeed, Mr. Dodd deserves great credit for writing the amendment to the recently passed economic stimulus package that limits compensation for executives of financial institutions that take federal assistance. The limit as originally written applied retroactively as well as going forward and would have stopped the big bonuses to AIG executives. The amendment was changed during final negotiations to make the limits apply only to future bonuses.

On Tuesday, Mr. Dodd said that the change was not in the amendment as he wrote it. But on Wednesday, he said that Treasury Department officials had implored him to change his amendment so that the limits would apply only to future bonuses. The change would exclude executives paid bonuses under a contract signed last year. He agreed to the change because otherwise he would "lose the amendment entirely." He later said he had no idea the change would apply to AIG bonuses.

On Thursday, Mr. Dodd explained that he had misconstrued the bonus question. He thought he was being asked whether he had changed the amendment because of AIG, to which he said, "Absolutely not." When he realized the question was whether he was responsible for changing the amendment, the answer was different.


The Trust Factor
His explanation is plausible. But a fed-up public may not buy it. People are suspicious because Mr. Dodd has been the No.1 recipient of campaign cash from employees and political action committees related to AIG over the past two decades. (He no longer receives PAC funds from any recipient of government bailouts. He says he'll return contributions from any AIG executives who are keeping their controversial bonuses once it's clear who has returned those bonuses and who hasn't.)

Whether fair to Mr. Dodd or not, this is an issue — the appearance of favoritism toward a big campaign contributor — that isn't likely to blow over.

Restoration of the public's trust in government is needed more than anything during this deep financial crisis. If he hopes to remain an effective lawmaker and win re-election next year, Mr. Dodd has to rebuild that trust. He cannot make another gaffe of the type that makes him look, as blogger Colin McEnroe put it, "self-revising." He should explain himself in person to the voters of Connecticut and devote his considerable skill to boosting the state's economy and well-being.

This is a difficult time for someone who loves the Senate and public service as much as Mr. Dodd does, but the difficulties are of his own making. He doesn't have much time to straighten them out.


What's your opinion? Be heard with a Letter to the Editor: www.courant.com/writeletter



Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

March 22, 2009 at 7:37 AM
Anonymous said...

Dodd vows to give up campaign cash from AIG employees who got bonuses
By Don Michak
Journal Inquirer
Published: Friday, March 20, 2009 11:18 AM EDT
Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, caught in the controversy over $165 million in employee bonuses at the taxpayer-bailed out American International Group, on Thursday apologized for “confusion” over his role in the matter and pledged to return or give to charity any campaign contributions he received from those taking the payments.

Speaking during a half-hour conference call restricted to reporters from Connecticut, the five-term Democrat also vowed not to accept new contributions from political action committees linked to AIG or any other company getting assistance under the federal government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Dodd’s promise to return the campaign cash he may have received from the rewarded AIG executives and employees, whom analysts have accused of “blowing up” the formerly high-flying insurance company, fell short of the demand issued earlier in the day by a prospective

n Working Families Party

sponsors bus tour of AIG homes,

Page 14

Republican opponent in the 2010 election.

Robert R. Simmons, the former state business advocate and 2nd District congressman, had called upon Dodd to give back the tens of thousands of dollars in contributions linked to AIG that Dodd had collected in the last election cycle.

Most of that money went to support Dodd’s failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, which was heavily bankrolled by insurance and financial services companies overseen by the Senate Banking Committee he chairs.

Similarly, the senator’s stated intention to decline new contributions from PACs organized by TARP firms sidesteps the matter of money given by individuals associated with those businesses.

A database kept by the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics, for example, shows that Dodd over the last two election cycles collected a total of $43,000 from PACs associated with just five firms — Citigroup, AIG, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America — that together have received $125 billion in TARP payments.

But it also reveals that Dodd over the same period collected more than 17 times that amount — $750,550 — from individuals linked to those companies.

Moreover, Dodd, as both a presidential candidate and senator, in just the last cycle accepted a total of $854,200 from contributors associated with firms now getting TARP money, according to the center.

Dodd’s comments came as he attempted to resolve perhaps the most significant political crisis of his career — a widespread and much-publicized populist backlash over the bonuses AIG paid out under a loophole inserted into the government’s $787 billion stimulus package Congress passed last month.

Dodd, who had initially said he didn’t know how that “exemption” had ended up in an amendment to the legislation he sponsored, only a day later acknowledged that he had agreed to rewrite the measure at the urging of U.S. Treasury Department officials.

Offers apology for confusion

Dodd in the conference call said he was “sorry” that he at first didn’t adequately explain what had happened so that there was “confusion about what you’re trying to do.”

“How to explain to a teacher in Bristol or a laid-off construction worker in Bridgeport that some are going to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars while their country is cratering economically?” he added. “I regret deeply that this matter has become confused.”

Dodd said the treasury officials, staffers whom he described as low level but said he could not identify, had argued for the exemption to avoid lawsuits over “the abrogation of a wide variety of contracts, for small institutions as well as large ones.”

The senator added that he was worried that if he didn’t accede to the change, his amendment — which he said actually sought to reign in “golden parachutes, bonuses, and excessive executive compensation”— could get dumped as House and Senate conferees reconciled their versions of the stimulus.

“It was their idea, and it seems more technical in nature than anything else, and we agreed to those changes in the amendment,” he said. “I was also concerned, quite candidly, that given the opposition to the amendment, there may be some intent to drop it entirely.”

Dodd added: “There was no indication this was related to AIG, and I agreed to those changes.

“I was completely unaware any bonuses were involved,” he continued. “Had I known at the time any bonuses were involved, I would have rejected it completely. But that was not six weeks ago what was on the table.”

Report: VIPs knew it was a deal

Dodd, whose long-time popularity in Connecticut plummeted in the latest statewide poll, said he couldn’t worry about political fallout from the bonus brouhaha and his prospect for re-election next year.

“We’re so far away, and there’s going to be some major issues over the coming weeks,” he said.

“These are very difficult days,” he added, referring to the nation’s economic crisis. “I’m determined to do everything I can to try and get this right, to get back on our feet again. If I sat there every day and worried about where the polls were, I couldn’t function, I couldn’t do this.”

The senator, however, took another hit as he offered his contrition Thursday, when Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a report on the mortgages given to Dodd and other “VIPs” by Countrywide Financial Corp., a major player in the now-ruined subprime mortgage business.

Dodd has insisted that he was unaware he was getting special treatment from Countrywide as he refinanced both his Washington townhouse and his home in East Haddam.

The report, however, says the company “clearly” indicated to VIPs that they were getting special deals and often provided them with business cards from its VIP unit.

But while the 63-page report says the Countrywide employee who handled the VIP loans said it was standard practice to tell borrowers their loan had been specially priced by the company’s chief executive, it doesn’t indicate whether that employee specifically told that to Dodd or his wife.






Copyright © 2009 - Journal Inquirer
[x] Close Window

March 22, 2009 at 8:08 AM
Anonymous said...

courant.com/news/politics/hc-simmons-v-dodd-0322.artmar22,0,7213747.story

Courant.com
A RACE FOR THE SENATE
GOP's Simmons Positions Himself As The Anti-Dodd
By DANIELA ALTIMARI

The Hartford Courant

March 22, 2009

Three days after announcing his plan to take on Connecticut's senior senator, Rob Simmons breezed past a bunch of kids sitting in the gym of the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London.

It wasn't a political appearance: Simmons was here to talk about moon rocks. "You want to shake the hand of the man who shook the hand of the man who went to the moon?" said the lanky 66-year-old with thinning gray hair and a toothy grin.

A former congressman who was swept aside in the 2006 Democratic wave, Simmons long has been known as a fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican with a penchant for colorful ties and an exuberant demeanor.

Suddenly, though, he is becoming known as something else: The anti-Dodd.

And right now, that's not a bad thing to be.

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has long enjoyed a Teflon reputation — and the blowout vote margins that come with it. But now, Dodd is facing a barrage of criticism on everything from the refinancing of two mortgages to his decision to move his family to Iowa during his 2008 presidential run to his ownership of a cottage in Ireland. Last week's political tempest over his role in paving the way for the AIG bonuses raised new questions about his credibility.

"It's just one thing after another," observed Kenneth Dautrich, a political scientist at the University of Connecticut. "Any legitimate Republican candidate could potentially have a field day on all this stuff."

In 2006, the Iraq war was dividing the nation, and Ned Lamont gained momentum simply because he wasn't Joe Lieberman. The state's junior senator was condemned by many Democrats for his support of the war.

It's now the economy, and Dodd has become, in the eyes of some, the personification of the government's bungling of the bonuses and the target of stewing anger over the economic crisis.

"This time, not being Dodd might be good enough," Dautrich said.

Simmons, of course, isn't the only potential anti-Dodd: Sam S.F. Caligiuri, a conservative state senator from Waterbury; Thomas Foley, a GOP fundraiser and former ambassador to Ireland; and CNBC host Larry Kudlow all have expressed interest in running.

But right now, Simmons is the only declared Republican in the race, and he appears to be the best positioned to unseat the man who has served as the state's senator for 28 years.

A poll released earlier this month by Quinnipiac University showed Simmons in a virtual tie with Dodd. The same poll had Dodd besting Caligiuri, 47 percent to 34 percent, and Kudlow, 46 percent to 34 percent. Both possible contenders have low name-recognition numbers among voters, according to the poll, which did not include questions about Foley.



Attack Plan
Those poll results prompted Simmons to announce his candidacy last Sunday. He said he began seriously thinking about running a few weeks earlier, when he left his job as the state's business advocate and an internal GOP poll revealed the depths of Dodd's vulnerability.

"A negative, throw-the-mud campaign … could be a very damaging campaign to Dodd," Dautrich said. "This is going to be a miserable year for him if he has to spend the next six to nine months fending off negative ads."

"I'm not suggesting Dodd's not a fighter," Dautrich added, "He certainly is. But he is now engaged, at the beginning of a campaign, in things he's never seen before."

And Simmons, Dautrich believes, is capable of staging the kind of intense campaign that the Republicans will need if they hope to win.

Simmons doesn't yet have detailed policy statements; he doesn't even have a website, a staff or any of the other machinery that a serious campaign for the U.S. Senate demands.

But one week into the race, he has already signaled his willingness to follow Republican talking points that paint Dodd as an entrenched Washington politician whose inside-the-Beltway perspective leaves little understanding of the realities faced by Connecticut residents.

That was clear Monday night, when Simmons appeared before the Barkhamsted Republican Town Committee. Waving newspaper accounts of Dodd's recent woes, he excoriated the senator for taking out a "sweetheart mortgage" with a bank he regulated and for moving out of state to run for president.

"I am troubled by what I read [about Dodd], but I am also troubled by what I read about the financial services sector," Simmons told the audience of about 30 Republicans. "The person principally charged with overseeing these matters as the banking system was entering trouble was out in Iowa running for president, missing in action, only to return to blame the crisis on someone else."

Simmons said he won't move to Washington if elected. Instead, he'll commute home to Stonington every weekend, just as he did when he served in the House. "I could make it home in three hours," he said.

Maintaining a strong connection to Connecticut is important. "I don't know what happens, but over time, people become disconnected," he said.

Despite the wounds he has suffered in recent weeks, Dodd remains an aggressive, well-known and well-funded Democratic incumbent in a heavily Democratic state.

He insisted he isn't focused on the 2010 election, which is, after all, 20 months away. "Polls are what they are," he said Friday. "I've been around long enough to know polls can go all kinds of ways."

Instead, Dodd intends to concentrated on fixing the U.S. economy and helping those in need. "If I do my job," he said, "the politics will take care of itself."

When Roy Occhiogrosso, a longtime Connecticut political analyst and a vigorous Dodd supporter, heard that Simmons was running, his first thought was "that's the best they can do?"

Occhiogrosso described Simmons as "a former congressman who was voted out of office, who has run nasty, ugly, divisive campaigns." He predicted a contest between Simmons and Dodd would result in a victory for the Democrat.

National Democratic operatives figure there's still mileage left in a strategy that links Simmons to President Bush, an approach that worked for them in 2006.

"Make no mistake about it: Rob Simmons is no moderate," said Eric Schultz, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. "This is somebody who was a staunch supporter of George Bush's failed economic policies, and this race will be an opportunity to hold him accountable for that record."


Centrists Return?
In reality, Simmons dissents from the right wing of the Republican Party on a number of touchstone issues, including gay rights, abortion rights and a range of environmental matters. He's more John Chafee than Rush Limbaugh.

Chafee, a former senator from Rhode Island, was a perfect example of a New England Republican, and he gave Simmons his first job in Washington. It was a summer internship for students, and it paid only a $700 stipend. Simmons, who was in his mid-30s and had a wife and child, took it anyway.

But New England voters of late have shown a distinct distaste for Chafee's heirs, Republicans such as Nancy Johnson, Chris Shays and Simmons himself, each of whom have been bounced from Congress in the past two elections.

Simmons is confident that he can revive the GOP's flagging moderate wing, but he'll need the help of voters such as Bill Bartholic to pull it off.

"I voted for you before, and I'll vote for you again," Bartholic of Brooklyn told Simmons after spotting him at a New London coffee shop. "And I'm a Democrat."

Bartholic said he was always impressed by Simmons' commitment to his constituents during his six years in Congress. "I think he did a good job for the state, bringing jobs to EB," Bartholic said. "He has a lot of energy."

Bartholic is also quick to lavish praise on Rep. Joe Courtney, the Democrat who beat Simmons in 2006 by 83 votes. "Joe Courtney's a good man," Bartholic said.

"There are a lot of good Democrats," added Bartholic's wife, Patricia.

"My mom's a good Democrat," Simmons responded, flashing a grin.

While sipping his hazelnut coffee and nibbling on a banana muffin, Simmons was continually approached by patrons offering a word of encouragement. He chatted with a local minister about a new initiative to fight homelessness and with a woman at a nearby table who is raising money for a program for special education students.

"Rob's one of the good guys," said Bud McAllister, a New London community organizer in a bright yellow T-shirt that proclaimed "Healthcare For All."

Simmons said he is under no illusions. Beating Dodd will take a lot of work and a lot of money; he said Friday he expected to raise $5 million for the effort. The race is among the highest profile Senate contests in the nation, and both parties are likely to invest millions in their quest to win.

"He's a very successful politician," Simmons said of Dodd. "He's the longest-serving senator in Connecticut history. He's heir to his father's name and title. The Dodds are like the Kennedys in Massachusetts.

"Who am I? Rob Simmons. Everything I've done, I've done on my own."

Courant staff writer Rinker Buck contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

March 22, 2009 at 8:14 AM
Anonymous said...

He's heir to his father's name and title.

DOES THAT TITLE INCLUDE BEING CENSURED BY THE SENATE FOR MISAPPROPRIATION OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS, OH MY MISTAKE, THAT WAS HIS FATHER'S EPITAPH BEFORE HE LOST HIS SENATE SEAT TO REPUBLICAN LOWELL P. WEICKER, JR.

MAYBE IT IS IN THE FAMILY GENES??

March 22, 2009 at 12:45 PM
Anonymous said...

STILL THINK SARAH PALIN IS A DUMMY?
AN EVIL PERSON?

IN LESS THAN 50 DAYS AMERICA IS FINALLY WAKING UP TO THE HANG OVER OF OBAMA MANIA. UNFORTUNATELY THIS HANGOVER WILL LAST UNTIL NOVEMBER 2010.

March 22, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
STILL THINK SARAH PALIN IS A DUMMY?
AN EVIL PERSON?

A DUMMY? One of the most financially sound states in the union?

A DUMMY? The most popular governor in American history?

AN EVIN PERSON: Liberal translation: opposes redistribution of wealth, lets people keep their hard earned money instead of seizing it through taxes and giving it to people that liberal buearocrats believe deserve it better than the people who earned it.

NOW, ALL THAT SAID, SHE WOULD HAVE MY VOTE!

March 22, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Anonymous said...

What happened to our own resident czar of ethics, Phil Sherwack?

Where is he to comment on the dirty, sleazy politics of the infamous Senator Chris Dudd???

What about the lies?

Think he would remain silent if it were a Republican that was half as dirty as his fellow Dumbocrat???

What a phony!

March 22, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Anonymous said...

It would appear it is time to replace Chris Dodd with a responsible Republican, just like the way CT voters tossed his father out of the Senate!

March 22, 2009 at 1:59 PM
Anonymous said...

Maybe Obama will offer Dodd Secretary of the Treasury after Geithner has to be dumped for incompetence. I saw a news broadcast this weekend the showed how no one wants the job mainly because no one who is qualified wants to work for Obama. Dodd must be at least as unqualified for the job as Geithner is.

March 22, 2009 at 3:46 PM
Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
STILL THINK SARAH PALIN IS A DUMMY?
AN EVIL PERSON?...........

If she were a liberal they would say she is, plain spoken, straight foward, Hard working mom who should be held up as a example for young girls.

But since she is conservative liberals will make her ot to be a simpleton.

Another shining example of what the left wing liberals have done to the democratic party.

March 22, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Anonymous said...

courant.com/news/politics/hc-dodd-aig-0320.artmar20,0,363473.story

Courant.com
Dodd, Obama Officials Try To Clarify Senator's Role In AIG Controversy
By EDMUND H. MAHONY and DANIELA ALTIMARI

The Hartford Courant

March 20, 2009

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, with help from the Obama administration, worked Thursday to extricate himself from a political storm over $165 million in bonuses to insurance giant AIG, saying the matter was the result of "confusion" arising from administration efforts to craft an economic stimulus package.

The chairman of the influential Senate banking committee acknowledged Thursday afternoon that he agreed six weeks ago to fine-tune stimulus legislation, agreeing to a change that had the effect of authorizing the much-criticized bonuses at American International Group. But Dodd said he agreed only after being persuaded by Treasury Department technical experts that the changes were necessary to speed a national recovery. And he said he was not informed that the amendment would affect AIG specifically.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, after his department issued a number of imprecise statements, confirmed Dodd's account Thursday afternoon. In an interview with CNN, Geithner said the legislation, as written by Dodd's committee, could have generated a flood of lawsuits because of its restrictions on executive compensation at financial institutions.

Dodd was asked pointedly during a conference call with Connecticut journalists whether Geithner's delay in issuing an explanation had "hung him out to dry," making him, for a day anyway, the target of national rage over enormous pay packages being collected by finance employees who contributed to the global credit collapse.

"Well, those are your words, not mine," Dodd said. "The idea came from the administration. I was not negotiating with myself. I didn't get my amendment passed and say, 'I think I'll modify my own amendment.' Now I gather that has been cleared up to some degree, which I appreciate. But I would have appreciated it earlier."

Dodd said he continues to support the increasingly embattled Geithner. He also conceded that he contributed personally to the AIG furor when he inadvertently gave an inaccurate answer during an interview with a television reporter in Washington earlier this week. Dodd said he had "misconstrued" a question when he responded that he had nothing to do with the amendment that authorized the bonuses.

"My intention was not to mislead anybody," Dodd said. "My assumption [of the basis of the question] was, 'Did you change this because of AIG?' Absolutely not. To that extent there was a misconstruction of the question."

Dodd said AIG was never mentioned during his discussions with staff at the Treasury Department. Rather, Dodd said the staff members, whose names he said he does not recall, were concerned that the original stimulus legislation would arbitrarily abrogate a "wide variety of contracts" at both small and large banks.

"They were concerned about a flood of lawsuits," he said.

Dodd's explanations, combined with Geithner's support, may help him quiet the AIG furor. But he remains a top target of Republicans if he decides to stand for re-election in 2010 — he suggested strongly Thursday that he will. And even his support among neighbors in East Haddam sounded shaky after a series of controversies.

The neighbors pointed to the disclosure last year that Dodd may have been treated favorably by Countrywide Financial when refinancing two of his residences, including his 150-year-old former schoolhouse on the Connecticut River in East Haddam. Countrywide's massive issuance of mortgages to home buyers who could not afford them is believed to have contributed to the banking crisis. The firm was subject to oversight by Dodd's committee.

Dodd recently responded that he received no favorable treatment and his interest rate is in accord with the national average.

More recently Dodd has been pressed to answer questions about financial help he has received from friends and political supporters when purchasing homes in Washington and a cottage on 10 acres of land on an Irish island. He said the transactions were approved by the Senate ethics committee.

Still, some neighbors said they are re-evaluating.

"I see him in church," said Barry Wilson, who is afraid of losing his home after his retirement savings vaporized in the Wall Street collapse. "He is a very congenial man. But politically, I'm not happy with the political end of it. I have mostly supported him, but I'll have to see what happens with all this. This whole thing from the beginning has not been good."

Brian Collin, a waiter who served Dodd during a political function at the Mohegan Sun casino two years ago, said the events of the past two days have eroded his support.

"I had an opportunity to listen to what he was saying and it made a lot of sense," Collin said Thursday. "Then I watched him on television this morning about all these recent developments. He was like a different person. He was not confident in his responses to questions. He looked squirrelly. I'd say my opinion has changed."

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, predicted that Republicans will use AIG and the homes to savage Dodd. That, as it turns out, is happening already. National Republicans are distributing "talking points" in an effort to use the AIG bonuses to make a case that Dodd and the Democrats are pawns of big business.

Former 2nd District Congressman Rob Simmons, a Republican who has announced he will challenge Dodd in 2010, was accusing Dodd Thursday of a flip-flop on AIG, even as Dodd was trying to extinguish the political fire.

"He says one thing one day, one thing another day," Simmons said. "Where's the transparency in all of this? The issue of executive compensation is obviously an important issue. ... You would think someone's reading the language of the bill."

Dodd tried to sound confident, saying he expects his neighbors and voters in general to recognize what he characterized as a misunderstanding in the context of his efforts to revive the economy.

"I've spent years working on these issues," he said. "Obviously I'll keep working at it. I've got a long record of serving the people of Connecticut — I think well."

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

March 23, 2009 at 7:16 AM
Anonymous said...

"Dodd’s lie should haunt him next year when he seeks re-election. He has broken a bond with voters who expect honesty from their elected officials."

Is there anyone left in either the Obama Administration, or Congress who even knows what the truth is anymore?

March 23, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Anonymous said...

Dodd is a liar like his father before him!

March 23, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Anonymous said...

Lieberman Defends Dodd Over AIG Bonuses
Lieberman Defends Dodd Over AIG Bonuses
By Ted Mann


Published on 3/24/2009 in Home »State »State News
Norwich - Sen. Joe Lieberman offered a defense of fellow Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd Monday, saying the veteran Democrat was among those pushing hardest for limits on executive pay at banks bailed out by American taxpayers.
”I felt badly for Chris,” Lieberman said, during a stop at The William W. Backus Hospital here, where the senator hailed the increased funding for health programs in the recently passed federal stimulus bill.

Dodd was unfairly made the scapegoat last week in the furor over bonuses paid to executives at AIG, the insurer that has received billions in federal bailout funds to stay afloat, Lieberman said.

”There's a certain unfairness to this,” Lieberman said. “He was way out front in the Senate in trying to prohibit bonuses and high pay for any executives at companies getting money from the taxpayers.

”Part of the intensity now is that everybody is so anxious about the economy, and of course everyone's furious, as Chris is and I am, at the executives,” Lieberman said. “These folks are living in a world that doesn't exist anymore. They think that they can continue to get these multimillion-dollar bonuses, as if it was two years ago, three years ago, forgetting ... (they) wouldn't have a job if taxpayers hadn't put money into” their companies.

Lieberman, still a controversial figure for many Democrats, missed few opportunities to lavish praise on Dodd's record Monday, and also offered support for President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who was unveiling a new recovery plan for the nation's damaged credit markets Monday morning.

The nation's most recent “boom times” were “a bit artificial,” Lieberman warned, and might not be replicated. But the senator also said he thought Geithner's plan to stimulate investment and unstick the frozen credit markets could help lead the nation back to economic growth within a year or so.

”I don't think we'll get back to where we were,” Lieberman said. “I think we're going to come back to economic growth by the end of this year (or) early next year, and that's good. But part of what was happening - as we look back - we were borrowing too much, in a sense we were living too high, and to some extent people were just cooking the books.”

Geithner's latest plan, he added, is “a smart idea, and I hope and pray it works.”

Lieberman knows a little of Dodd's dilemma. A little more than two years ago, the senator faced a deeply unpopular war of which he had become one of the nation's most visible supporters, losing a Democratic primary and eventually running a petitioning campaign to hold onto his Senate seat. The episode drove a wedge between Dodd and Lieberman, the latter now concedes, but he said the fences have been mended, and that Dodd can save his political fortunes by continuing his work as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

”He knows what to do,” Lieberman said. “Just keep doing what he thinks is right, and trying to do the best he can for the state, which he's always done. And the politics will take care of itself ... I honestly believe that.”


Regional

March 24, 2009 at 6:58 AM
Anonymous said...

Friday, March 27, 2009 3:12 AM EDT

----The Waterbury American Editorial----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Furthermore...



Money-laundering: At least 13 companies that got bailed out by Sen. Christopher Dodd's TARP are more than $220 million in arrears on their federal income and payroll taxes. But the Internal Revenue Service says it "has every expectation that these amounts will be paid." No kidding. Of course they will, now that the companies have hundreds of billions in borrowed bailout bucks. Paying their taxes with taxpayers' money: Just the latest dividend from their multimillion-dollar investment in Sen. Dodd's political campaigns.

We are all terrorists now: Americans no longer must fear terrorism because the Obama administration has eliminated it, in the same way it did away with earmarks in the "stimulus": by euphemism. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano recently told an interviewer she has ditched the term "terrorism" in favor of "man-caused disasters" to "move away from the politics of fear." But her novel, sexist definition, when applied to the Gospel of St. Al, makes all humans terrorists — "man-made disasterers"? — because they exhale carbon dioxide, which Mr. Gore claims causes the man-made disaster of global warming.

March 27, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Anonymous said...

Courant.com
SENATE RACE
Connecticut Sen. Dodd Hires Rising Star To Run His Campaign
By DANIELA ALTIMARI

The Hartford Courant

March 28, 2009

U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd has hired a rising political star to run his 2010 re-election campaign.

Jay Howser worked magic for Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana and U.S. Sen. Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana; now Dodd is hoping he can do it again.

" Sen. Dodd asked me to come on board and get the infrastructure in place," Howser said Friday. "We're going to build the largest grass-roots campaign in Connecticut history."

For much of his career, Dodd hasn't had to bring on the heavy artillery: In 2004, he became Connecticut's first five-term senator by swiftly dispatching Republican challenger Jack Orchulli.

But this time, it's different. Criticism of the senator has been growing, most recently over his role in legislation that ended up leading to the AIG bonus debacle. Before that, Dodd was dealing with the fallout from his refinancing of two mortgages and his decision to move his family to Iowa during his 2008 presidential run.

Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, a Republican from Stonington, has announced his intention to challenge Dodd. Several others are contemplating campaigns as well.

Dodd leads Simmons, 45 percent to 40 percent, in a new Siena College poll. In a Quinnipiac poll earlier this month, Dodd trailed Simmons by a point.

The national GOP has already signaled its intention to pour money into the race, which veteran pundit Charlie Cook rates as a "tossup," calling Dodd one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats.

By hiring Howser, Dodd is signaling that he intends to wage an aggressive campaign. Howser started working in politics in 1996 — a U.S. House race in his native Missouri. Two years later, he helped a Democrat win the governor's office in Alabama. He worked on Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign as a researcher, and in 2002 he was research director on the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. He also worked on the unsuccessful 2004 presidential bid of U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida. In 2006, he engineered the upset victory of Ellsworth, a local sheriff, over a six-term Republican congressman from Indiana. He then moved on to Louisiana, where Landrieu was the "No. 1 target for Republicans," he said. She wound up winning by more than 5 percentage points.

Howser said he isn't sure what lessons those battles will offer for Dodd this time around. "My experience helps me understand that each campaign is unique," he said. "But you focus on [building] a strong grass-roots campaign."

Howser also noted that it is still "very, very early" in the election cycle. "We'll see what happens," he said. "We'll be prepared for a competitive race."

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

March 29, 2009 at 7:22 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Web Tracking
Online Florist