All Posts Tagged With: "Conrad"

The only Senator to hold two Senate seats at the same time, has avoided serious scrutiny of his hypocritical actions because he is popular. I personally have always liked him and his no nonsense charts. But I never saw several hypocrisies on his charts.

So how did Conrad make this unique and devious silent history? After being elected to the Senate in 1986 on a promise not fulfilled, a reduction in the federal budget, he “honorably” agreed to honor his pledge not to stand for re-election.

But when the other seat became vacant due to the death of the incumbent, Conrad ran for and won that seat in a special election, not a re-election, resigning his original seat the day he was sworn in to the new seat. He did not run for re-election to one seat, but ran for election to the same kind of seat, one of only two in all states, because he promised he would not. Confused?

Perhaps Senate seats are not fungible. Who would have thought.

What other honorable things has he done?

Well, more recently he allowed Countrywide Financial Corp to give him two favors you and I would not have gotten. He was referred as a FOA, Friend of Angelo, Founder and Chairman of the company who popularized the “Fast and Easy” money mortgage which fueled the current crisis caused by giving fog a mirror loans to anybody, which drive up prices beyond sustainable levels which are now in the process of normalizing and a process so fundamental to our economic security, one can argue easily that it has harmed our national security.

First he allowed them to treat him to a reduction in fees equal to one percentage point on his 1.2 million dollar loan a VACATION HOME in Bethany Beach, Delaware. How can a lifetime politician afford that kind of vacation home, maybe even not his only one? (Does anyone know?)

He must have married into money. But then why did he need or how did he come to deserve that $12,000 break?

Second, why did he get any kind of loan on his eight (8) unit apartment building in Bismark, N.D.? Countrywide only make loans on one to four family units. But then, he thinks he paid over market for that loan, so he must have done nothing wrong. But if they do not make those kinds of loans, how doe he know what the “market” is and why did he pay so much? Just a garden variety catch 22.

Should popularity make anyone immune from scrutiny, whether it be Senator Conrad or Tim Russert or John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan or George Bush for a short while after 9/11?

Truth is, those who are popular get away with more than those who are not. That flows from public and voter hypocrisy and creates great risks to all of us as a result.