Disturbing Pattern of Lies, Corruption And Special Interests
Senator Dodd’s re-election campaign seems to be based on the following strategy:
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”.
Senator Dodd is running ads that try to portray him as Joe Six Pack, always ready to pitch in and help working class Connecticut citizens that he claims to have so much in common with. The average Connecticut worker, of course, can only dream about leading the specially privileged and wealthy lifestyle that Mr Dodd enjoys. Dodd has as much in common with the average Connecticut citizen as a $1 a day Chinese laborer has in common with the Chinese President.
Lobbyists Love Dodd
Senator Dodd publicly advertises himself as the man who stands up against the special interests while at the same time accepting large donations and special gifts from them. Election campaigns are not cheap and the Senator has gladly accepted money from special interests and lobbyists. The same parties enriching the Senator expect and have received special treatment in return.
In return for contributions from AIG, Senator Dodd tried to exempt AIG executives from receiving bonuses. His first reaction as a politician when exposed by the press, was to deny the truth and later blame it on “his staff”.
Wealthy Senator Needs More
The Senator, a very wealthy man, saw fit to take a special low cost low rate mortgage from none other than Countrywide Mortgage, a company responsible for ruining millions of lives. When exposed by the press, he offered the usual denial and ignorance of his special treatment. How exactly, Senator, do you define someone accepting a special financial favor based on a position of power?
While denying ties special interests in the health care industry, Mr Dodd’s wife is paid $80,000 a year as a member of the board of directors at Cardiome Pharma. Board members usually work a few days a year and are typically appointed based on their connections to powerful members of government. The typical Connecticut working person can only dream about a no nothing board position paying $80,000 per year.
The Senator may say that he has been working hard for the citizens during his 28 years in office, but he seems to be working even harder for himself. Connecticut deserves better than Dodd.
Dodd’s Uneasy Dance With Drug Lobbyists
For Mr. Dodd, the support provided by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the industry’s lobbying arm, comes at a politically sensitive, if not awkward, time. He is trying to combat a perception that he has become too close to powerful interest groups in Washington after 28 years in the Senate.
But even as Mr. Dodd attempts to distance himself from these special interests, he is clearly relying on their help as he prepares for his re-election, a reality seized upon by his Republican critics.
He has not only benefited from the hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry and Families U.S.A., a health-care advocacy group the industry teamed up with. But a few weeks ago, Mr. Dodd attended a $1,500-a-plate campaign fund-raiser sponsored by lobbyists representing U.S. Oncology, a provider of cancer drugs and services.
The support Mr. Dodd has received from PhRMA comes at a crucial time politically for him, with polls showing voters in his home state disapproving of his performance.
Mr. Dodd’s problems stem in part from the view among some voters that he has developed cozy ties with the corporations he is supposed to oversee in his capacity as a senior member of several committees with jurisdiction over the financial, health care and other industries.
In some ways, he is to blame for this perception.
In March he faced a firestorm over his support for a measure that would serve to exempt American International Group, a big campaign contributor of his, from Congressional efforts to limit some executive compensation packages to Wall Street firms that received federal bailout money. After initially denying that he was behind the measure, he acknowledged that his staff introduced it at the urging of the Obama administration.
That came only months after he was accused of receiving preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corporation, which assigned him to a V.I.P. program in 2003 when he refinanced mortgages on his homes in Connecticut and Washington. Mr. Dodd said that he did not believe that he received preferential rates, however.
Over his decades in Congress Mr. Dodd has raised more than $550,000 from drug company representatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In addition, Mr. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, was paid nearly $80,000 as a member of the board of Cardiome Pharma Corporation, according to the documents most recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Clegg also holds more than 200,000 shares in Javelin Pharmaceuticals, where she is also a board member.
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