Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign (FreddieMac payed $2mil to DCI )

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

AP IMPACT: Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign
By PETE YOST – 24 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.

In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Freddie Mac's payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel's bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

In the midst of DCI's yearlong effort, Hagel and 25 other Republican senators pleaded unsuccessfully with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to allow a vote.



Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-G-fDVnv0WN1pXdMWjXX43CjyeAD93TM5QO0

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McCain’s pick to run convention resigns
He was chosen by John McCain for the job. A few hours before he quit, Newsweek posted a report saying his lobbying firm had represented the military regime in Myanmar.

May 11, 2008 in print edition A-20

. – The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar.

Doug Goodyear resigned as coordinator of the Twin Cities convention and issued a two-sentence statement:

“Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign.”

more:http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/11/nation/na-mccain11

[Earth_First]

1. Enough with the finger pointing, investigations, committee hearings, I want INDICTMENTS and JUSTICE!

Is that too much to ask for?

Sure, we can name the individuals, what they perpetrated, how they got away with it, et. al. However, until there is an actual indictment and convictions, what's the fucking point?

[fasttense]

13. But in the republicon and neocon mind, Indictments and Justice is finger pointing.

And if there is anything we have learned in these last awful eight years of republicon rule is that they do Not support Justice. Justice for none and corruption of all is their true motto.

[mzmolly]

2. K and R.

:kick:

[Robbien]

3. Aren't the wingnuts all saying Freddie&Fannie are Dem supporters

and that everything that has gone wrong with the Stock Market Crash is all the fault of Dems and their support of Freddie&Fannie. GOPers profiting from Freddie? That is not something anyone is going to hear on the televised news.

This story is too little and way too late. GOPers already own the spin on Freddie&Fannie.

[cal04]

4. Running a covert campaign targeting GOP senators

Excerpts from a 19-page document, "Freddie Mac Field Program State by State Summary Report," dated Dec. 12, 2005. It shows that Republican consulting firm Freddie Mac and Republican consulting firm DCI targeted 17 GOP senators in a campaign to build opposition to a tough regulatory bill. The campaign began shortly after the Senate Banking Committee sent the measure to the full Senate on July 28, 2005.

The senators were Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Christopher "Kit" Bond and Jim Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, George Allen of Virginia, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Larry Craig of Idaho, John Ensign of Nevada, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, George Voinovich of Ohio and David Vitter of Louisiana.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081019/ap_on_bi_ge/influence_game_report_2

[Beaverhausen]

5. whoa

[bkkyosemite]

6. These people need to be voted out.

[bluesmail]

7. How many round trips has this money made?

It's going in circles.

[sarcasmo]

8. Kick, why can't the average person wake up and realize Republicans in no way have their values.

The only value is GREED.

[Joanie Baloney]

9. Smells like Watergate...

Watergate had its "plumbers" and we have ours?


Let's keep this visible folks...it's convoluted but important.

JB

:applause:

[texasleo]

10. Freddie Mac secretly paid GOP consulting firm to kill regulation

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.

In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Freddie Mac's payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel's bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

In the midst of DCI's yearlong effort, Hagel and 25 other Republican senators pleaded unsuccessfully with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to allow a vote.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081020/ap_on_bi_ge/the_influence_game_housing

---

This is huge, folks.

[droidamus2]

11. Interesting

I have seen a couple of pieces lately off the AP wire that start out looking like an indictment of the Republicans but if read another way actually become hit pieces on the Democrats. Buried in this story is the idea that the Hagel bill was the last chance to regulate Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and all the Democrats were against it. Of course, the Democrats had legitimate reasons for being against it but that is buried deep in the article.

[slypknot]

12. And the plot thickens... n/t

[underpants]

14. AP IMPACT: Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign ($2M to Repub consulting firm)

Source: AP/Yahoo

WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.

In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Freddie Mac's payments to DCI began shortly after the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee sent Hagel's bill to the then GOP-run Senate on July 28, 2005. All GOP members of the committee supported it; all Democrats opposed it.

Unknown to the senators, DCI was undermining support for the bill in a campaign targeting 17 Republican senators in 13 states, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The states and the senators targeted changed over time, but always stayed on the Republican side.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081020/ap_on_bi_ge/the_influence_game_housing

[underpants]

15. Kick

sorry, duped ya ;-)

[louis-t]

16. The spin I am hearing is

"Barney Frank and the Dems wouldn't let McCain regulate Fannie Mae in 2005."