The senior senator from Connecticut is retiring after 35 years in public office. While stating that he had to examine his reasons for remaining in the Senate, others have suggested different motives were behind his decision. Suffering from ill health, personal losses and declining public appeal, the five-term senator (after 3-terms in the House of Representatives) will end his career this January.
Ill Health
In February, doctors diagnosed Dodd with early-stage prostate cancer. On August 10, he underwent surgery and on November 30, 2010, he gave his Senatorial farewell address.
Personal Tragedies
Beside his personal health issues, Dodd was grief struck when long time friend and colleague Senator Ted Kennedy died in the summer of 2009. Shortly before Kennedy succumbed to brain cancer, Dodd’s sister died in July of lung cancer.
Declining Public Appeal
The New Haven Register reported about results in a November 2009 poll. “54 percent of Connecticut voters disapprove of Dodd's performance…only 39 percent considered Dodd honest and trustworthy.”
Dodd’s problems center around four fundamental areas: AIG, Countrywide, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the Banking Committee.
- AIG – the recipient of the largest single bailout of any corporation in history, this mess came to symbolize the banking chaos. Considered too big to fail, the US taxpayers gave AIG $182.5 billion. That is a whopping $35 billion more than the GNP of Ireland. However, the scandal for Dodd was that he signed legislation that allowed AIG executives to dish out $1.2 billion in taxpayer funded bonuses after the company suffered a $62 billion loss for the year. Retreating from earlier statements, where he denied the allegations, Dodd said, "I was changing the amendment because others were insistent;” Christopher Keating of the Hartford Courant reported Dodd told CNN. However, when pressured Dodd would not reveal the names of those individuals he said, “insisted.”
- Countrywide Financial – Dodd was the center of a Senatorial investigation over special deals given by failed mortgage company Countrywide. As a “Friend of Angelo” Dodd shaved thousands of dollars off personal mortgages that were only available to special persons. While the senate found no incidents of wrongdoing, the Connecticut electorate was not so supportive.
- Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and PACs – Dodd was accused of being asleep while these agencies operated recklessly during the housing fiasco. However, later discoveries revealed PACs related to the financial services company have donated thousands to the senator's campaign coffers over the years. Since 1989 Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, has received the most from Fannie and Freddie's PACs of any congressman or senator ($133,900).
- Banking Reform – politically Dodd received credit for the reformation of the financial system; however, detractors argue that the main points of the bill changed little. John Schoen, Senior Producer for MSNBC quoted William Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. “I would say that nothing in this bill would have prevented the previous crisis…and it clearly won't prevent the next crisis." John Taylor, president & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, quoted in the same MSNBC article was more critical of Dodd. “The new law is a boon to Wall Street lobbyists….This is what happens when you allow the very industry that caused the problem to buy all the front-row seats at the bargaining table.”
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