News comes out that another Democrat has possibly received a VIP loan from Countrywide.
The loans were made to Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. The panel's ranking Republican, California Rep. Darrell Issa, has been pushing to have the committee subpoena mortgage records showing who received loans through Countrywide's VIP program -- operated under former Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and known within the company as "Friends of Angelo." - WSJ
It is disturbing enough that this very Congressman is preventing a proper investigation of the Countrywide VIP loan program with the thought that he was protecting other Democrats. It sounds to me like a criminal act to block a proper investigation of Countrywide because his own name might come up. However, that is not what drove me to write this post.
This was:
This was:
The spokeswoman for Mr. Towns, a 26-year congressional veteran, said his decision not to subpoena the VIP records "has nothing to do with his mortgages." If the mortgages came through the VIP program, "it was without his knowledge," and he doesn't believe he received any special benefits from Countrywide, she said. "As far as he knew, he was just getting a loan as a regular person." The congressman, who wasn't a committee chairman when he received the Countrywide loans, first heard of the VIP program last year from press reports, she said. - WSJ
He found out last year about the VIP program and still does not know if he got VIP loans or not? Are we really supposed to believe that? I can understand that he might have gotten special treatment and not known about it at the time, even though Countrywide claims that everyone who did benefit did know that. But he should have checked immediately if he did or not and probably should have issued some sort of statement given the clear potential of a conflict of interest. Hell, now that he has been confronted, he can't say that he didn't get preferential treatment which probably means that he did. After all, wouldn't you want to know if you got a special deal after hearing that others have? I know I would.
Funny too how these Congressmen all managed to find the same lender and somehow had their loans processed through the same VIP program and all without their knowledge. How did that happen? Is there some billboard in the halls of Congress where people can tack up bargains, furniture for sale and discount mortgages? Sure looks like it.
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