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 Is it a problem that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher
Dodd, D-Conn., got a special discount on his two housing loans as part
of Countrywide Financial Corp.'s VIP program?
His
housing reform counterpart, House Financial Services Committee Chairman
Barney Frank, D-Mass., doesn't think so. Nine Republican senators want
an investigation, but Frank said Thursday he doesn't plan to examine
the issue: "I do not think it is appropriate for the Committee on
Financial Services to divert its attention from the crowded agenda we
already have because, if things go well, Countrywide will soon no
longer be on the scene."
Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo has been accused of providing high-profile people such as Dodd a program of lower fees and rates. Dodd has said he thought he was afforded the VIP treatment because he was a longtime Countrywide customer, not because he was a member of a key committee charged with regulating the housing industry.
Frank argues that Countrywide and its special VIP programs are done and since the lender will soon be part of a larger entity, Bank of America Corp., which is buying Countrywide's mortgage portfolio, these dual-class systems will be gone. But Frank conceded that he supported having the Ethics Committee examine Dodd's VIP loan.
Nevertheless, Republicans are happy to kick up a dust storm. - Ron Orol Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World. CategoriesComments Deal Video
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Ron:
I'm not sure trotting Barney Frank out to give Dodd a pass is anymore credible than using Karl Rove to give Bush a clean bill.