Getting Rid Of Toxic Congressmen
Posted by John Armor on Apr 5, 2009 - 12:05:54 PM
The mantra today is that we must get the toxic assets out of the banks and other financial institutions. That way, the banks will be on a sound footing, going forward. That may or may not be true. But, who are the experts assuring us that various steps are needed, now?
Well, two key people in this process are Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Frank had a sexual relationship with the federal official in charge of new products from Fannie Mae. Those new products were the bundled toxic assets that collapsed and started the meltdown.
Frank also accepted large contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sources. And he was saying in Congress that these government-created corporations were “sound” just before the bottom fell out of the financial markets. Lastly, Frank has been at the head of the pitchfork and torches brigade, marching up the hill towards the AIG castle.
This is not to say that the AIG bonuses are a good idea. They could and should have been cut off at the knees. But isn’t Frank trying to channel the people’s anger against others, rather than against him and his allies in the government? Can we trust any judgments and actions by the government now, while Frank is still there as a toxic Congressman?
Turn your attention to Senator Dodd. He received the maximum political donations from Fannie and Freddie sources of all 535 members of Congress. In a close second place on that donations list was Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Whatever happened to him after he left the Senate?
Dodd also received a special rate, high-dollar mortgage from Countrywide. Countrywide was one of the first large mortgage companies to collapse. A year after Dodd’s sweetheart deal was first discovered, he is still lying to the press about what he knew and what he received.
There is also the point the press never discusses, that Dodd is a notorious drunk. There should be a plaque on the floor of the second floor front room of La Brasserie on Massachusetts Avenue for a legendary event involving both Dodd and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)
Is Dodd a toxic Senator? Can the actions of the federal government be trusted while Dodd is still in power?
But the whole blame does not rest with Congress. A very telling moment occurred this week when Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner testified before Dodd’s Committee in the House. A Representative from Minnesota, as I recall, and a Republican, asked Geithner to state the portion of the Constitution that authorized what he was doing. Geithner recited laws passed by Congress.
She asked him the same question again, what was the authority in the Constitution. Geithner then sat in his chair like a deer caught in headlights. He had no clue whether the Constitution offered any authority for his actions. In that, he represented his Administration. If you can get it through Congress, it’s legal; never mind that ancient document.
Geithner is, of course, a tax cheat. He paid some of his back taxes when he was in the nomination process. But for the years where the statute of limitations had run, he didn’t pay the taxes but he kept the money the World Bank had given him to pay those taxes.
Is Geithner a toxic bureaucrat, who must be removed immediately?
Then there’s Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff in the White House. He was paid about $300,000 during his 14-month stint on the Board of Fannie Mae. At the same time, Franklin Raines was CEO of Fannie Mae. Raines deliberately misstated the corporate books by about $20 billion. That hid the coming collapse of Fannie Mae, and also increased the bonuses to the Board Members.
Is he a toxic public official whose very presence in the government pollutes all the proposals?
Here we are at the end of this column and there’s no mention of Charlie Rangel (D-NY) who’s in a position to write the tax laws, but feels no compunction to obey them.
There is little that the American people can do immediately about toxic Congressmen and others. But if we really are “as mad as Hell, and not going to take it anymore,” the first proof of that will be the number of incumbents in the House and Senate who go down to defeat in 2010.
