Chris Dodd Gets Caught in New "Funky" Friendship

It was  six moths ago when Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd admitted to America that he had the IQ of a slug (either that or he thinks that his constituents were stupid). It had been disclosed that the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Received TWO VIP Loans from Sub-Prime Lender Countrywide Inc. The Loans were at favorable interest rates.  THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE, Chris Dodd, said  he didn't realize that VIP treatment meant favorable rates. If you believe that I have bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Now we are finding out about a new "funky" friendship in the life of the Connecticut Senator. At the end of a the Clinton presidency secured a presidential pardon for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before. No one mentioned at the time that Downe and Dodd were partners in a real estate deal, or that a different partner of Downe's William "Bucky" Kessinger, had was involved in another land deal with Dodd.  Of course Dodd hadn't revealed that at the time. I guess he didn't have to, since the true ownership wasn't on the deed.  Read more about this troubling relationship below:

A Pardon For A Friend, A Good Deal For Dodd

Kevin Rennie
 

It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department. Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before. A man will do a lot for a former real estate partner.

It was reported here two weeks ago that Downe's real estate development partner, William "Bucky" Kessinger of Kansas City, Mo., purchased a 1,700-square-foot home in Ireland with Dodd in 1994 for $160,000. Downe's name appeared on the transfer document filed in the Irish Land Registry as the witness to Kessinger's signature. Kessinger owned two-thirds of the property, Dodd one-third.

Dodd's spokesman told The Courant in 2001 that the senator and Downe, who pleaded guilty to insider trading in 1993, had been friends for many years. No one mentioned that Dodd and Downe together purchased a condominium in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Dodd bought Downe's share 3 1/2 years later.

When Dodd owned a condominium with Downe in the 1980s, while Downe was carrying on his illegal stock scheme, no details of their arrangement were in the deed or mortgage filings.Who paid which expenses associated with owning the condominium didn't fall into the public's view. Neither did who used the condominium.

It raises the prospect that a senator, working much of the time in Washington, could have had his living expenses subsidized when the senator owned that real estate with a rich New York socialite. Even members of the smart set can be in only one place at a time. Downe already had homes in some of the nation's finest neighborhoods when he bought the D.C. condominium with Dodd, who used to be called, but no more, one of the poorest members of the Senate.

Dodd was never required to name Kessinger (on Senate disclosures) as the co-owner of their house on 10 acres of waterfront property on the west coast of Ireland for the eight years they owned it together. As with the condominium, the public doesn't know who paid the expenses associated with it when Kessinger owned two-thirds of it.

In 1993, Irish planning officials were slow in approving renovations to the property Dodd wanted to purchase. A Galway businessman, John W.M. Moore, tried to hurry them up, writing a letter reminding the bureaucrat in charge that Dodd "was an excellent friend of Galway's" as it tried to replace hundreds of jobs lost when Digital, the computer company, closed a facility.

Moore, by remarkable coincidence, was involved in Crystal Brands of Ireland, a crystal exporting company that also employed Downe, who is identified as a "network manager" on a Dun and Bradstreet document.