The excellent post by Irene Kan, along with a list of all the members in the 110th Congress who’ve taken campaign cash from Countrywide’s PAC, employees and their family members, is online here. Note that Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is number two on the list. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is tied for 23d place, by my count.
CRP lists Countrywide’s big campaign cash recipients
Posted by Bill Allison, June 19th, 2008 · 2 Comments
Tags: Ad Hoc · Campaign Finance · General Real Time · Research
2 responses so far ↓
1 Francesco // Jun 19, 2008 at 5:46 pm
This is a bit ingenuous, dating the study from 1989. Most people were unaware of the impending problems from the sub-prime speculation until well after 2004. It would be more appropriate to indicate the funding from a time such as this.
2 Bill Allison // Jun 19, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Not sure I agree with you–when do you date the point at which the relationship goes bad? From the point at which Countrywide lobbied on specific legislation relevant to the mortgage industry which, some would argue, led to the subprime mess we’re in now? Is it possible that they’d make contributions to lawmakers prior to embarking on such a course to prepare the ground, as it were, for future initiatives? Is it possible they’d recognize that giving to a prominent member of the Senate Finance Committee, as early as 1989, is good for business, because it’s good to have access to that member? Does every politician get a, “that’s not the Countrywide Financial/Enron/Global Crossing I know” pass every time a big donor gets into trouble, wiping the slate clean? I think there’s a real potential for problems whenever members take campaign cash from companies and industries they regulate. I don’t know of a way to stop it from happening (and members of Congress seem strangely disinterested in ever finding one), so given that those are the rules of the game, shouldn’t we call them to account when they’re caught with their fingers in a couple of pots of money from a troubled firm?
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