Dodd, Conrad at Center of Probe
Roll Call Staff
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The Senate Ethics Committee is aggressively investigating whether Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) received preferential mortgage treatment through Countrywide Financial, with sources saying the inquiry could come to a conclusion in the near future.
The committee’s approach is to “leave no stone unturned,” said one source familiar with the probe.
The panel has already deeply explored the complicated details of how both Senators obtained multiple mortgages for which — their loan officer alleges — hefty fees were waived because they were both part of a VIP program for customers deemed “Friends of Angelo,” for then-CEO Angelo Mozilo.
The source familiar with the investigation confirmed that the committee staff has deposed numerous witnesses with knowledge of the mortgage deals and has called some to testify before Senators who sit on the committee. They have also asked Conrad and Dodd to submit to written questions, which both men said they have done.
Conrad said he would “welcome” the chance to testify before the panel as well because he does not believe he did anything wrong in 2004 when he obtained two loans — one for a vacation property and another for an apartment building that he owns with his brothers in North Dakota.
Conrad defended his actions, saying, “My conscience is absolutely clear. I have done nothing unethical. Nothing.”
Dodd also asserted his innocence: “My conscience is clear in terms of what we did. We negotiated loans, shopped. And the rates they gave us were available readily to the general public.”
It remains unclear what conclusion the Ethics Committee will draw about what has become a he-said, he-said dispute between the Senators and their VIP loan officer, Robert Feinberg.
If the committee finds minimal wrongdoing or an ethical lapse, it could issue a letter of reprimand to one or both Senators. If more serious improprieties are found, the committee could recommend censure by the full Senate or expulsion.
As with all pending cases before the Ethics panel, Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) declined to comment.
Tom Williams/Roll Call
Sen. Chris Dodd has strongly denied any wrongdoing related to his mortgages. The Senate Ethics Committee is digging into the matter.
A rapid conclusion to the probe could be a welcome event for Dodd, who is up for re-election next year and trailing his GOP challenger in recent polls. His electoral difficulties can be traced back to the Countrywide scandal and his decision to move his family to Iowa to pursue a long-shot bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
In late June, Feinberg testified before Boxer, Vice Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and panel member James Risch (R- Idaho), telling them that members of the Countrywide VIP program received discounts on fees, rates and points, according to Feinberg’s lawyer Anthony Salerno.
Salerno said Feinberg’s deposition and testimony were conducted over an entire day and into the evening. “It was pretty exhaustive,” he said.
Boxer was most focused on asking Feinberg “to what extent [he] remembered the exact conversations” with Conrad and Dodd, Salerno said.
“Bob never tried to gild the lily, so to speak,” Salerno said. “If he didn’t remember the exact details of a conversation, he would say he didn’t remember.”
Isakson — a former real estate broker — focused on the details of the mortgage terms. The bulk of the questioning was conducted by Ethics staffers, Salerno said.
Feinberg told Republican staff on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Dodd and Conrad were aware they were receiving preferential treatment as members of the program. Oversight ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has been conducting his own investigation into the Countrywide VIP program.
“By preferential treatment, I mean specifically the suite of advantages, whether he’s knocking the points off, knocking the junk fees,” Feinberg told the Oversight staff, according to a partial transcript of his June 2009 deposition. “I have to preface it by [saying] that we were not allowed to tell anybody that the points were being waived, but we can tell everything else; and, any person, FOA, VIP, whatever they were that was coming through there, it was always instilled in them to let them know their sense of importance of where they were. And that you ... were a friend of Angelo’s. You were referred by Angelo. You were approved by Angelo.”
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