We're Running Out Of Shoes To Drop On Chris Dodd

Chris Dodd has to be ecstatic that February is almost over. The month that began with the sham "release" of his oft-questioned Countrywide mortgage records is now ending (hopefully for him) with Kevin Rennie's piece in the Hartford Courant about an earlier questionable real estate deal.

This particular scandal allegedly begins with Dodd going in on an Irish cottage, continues with him working the President of the United States for a pardon for his millionaire inside-trader buddy, and ends when Dodd buys the cottage outright from his partner (who happens to be friends with Dodd's newly-pardoned buddy) for a price that seems to indicate that it never appreciated, despite the skyricketing value of every other property in the country.

Rennie does a great job telling the story of just another reason to vote Dodd out. Here's the beginning, but read the whole thing.

Ireland does not easily give up its secrets. That may have been one attraction it held for Sen. Chris Dodd in 1994 when he became an owner of a refuge on nearly 10 acres on the Irish west coast. The murky tale includes a felonius inside trader, a Kansas City businessman, a presidential pardon and what appears to be a financial bonanza to Dodd during the Irish property boom.

The saga of Dodd's lucrative Irish odyssey reveals that his two 2003 sweetheart loans from subprime mortgage titan Countrywide Financial were not the first time he enjoyed a financial advantage from a wealthy benefactor. The trail begins at one of New York's most desirable addresses.

Additional coverage of this story is at Everyday Republican and RadioViceOnline, and For What It's Worth has additional information about Edward R. Downe, Jr., the man Dodd got a pardon for.