Kent Conrad, a devout liberal Democrat legislator lied.  Please explain why anyone, anywhere, should be surprised.

You rip off Country wide Stockholders with your buddy the CEO and donate the money to your favorite charity.

A Democrat?  Lied?  I believe this was done by quite a few Democrats in our state about 15 were Democrats.  One may have been a Republican--but one in the White house, Mr. Bill Clinton was the most visible.

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

Not to worry; I’m sure all those ace investigative Nd. “Journalists” will get to the bottom of this!

Kevin.  That was one of my mother’s admonishments.  I remember her.

Gaylord is starting to drip information.

Senator Says Loan Favoritism Is Possible

By LESLIE WAYNE
Published: June 15, 2008

Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, said Saturday that he would donate $10,500 to charity and refinance a property loan after suggestions that he and other prominent Washington figures received preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

Though Mr. Conrad, chairman of the Budget Committee, said he was not aware of any favoritism shown by the lender that has come under scrutiny in the mortgage crisis, he said a review of e-mail traffic suggested that the loan fee for a beach house may have been reduced because of his status, while a second loan called for an exception by the company.

“Although I did not ask for or know that I was receiving a discount, and even though I was offered a competitive loan from another lender, I do not want to have received preferential treatment,” said Mr. Conrad, who said he was giving $10,500 to Habitat for Humanity. The amount was equivalent to estimates of what Mr. Conrad saved through a reduction of one point on a $1.07 million mortgage.

The dealings of Countrywide with Washington officials have come to light in the past week after James A. Johnson, a former head of Fannie Mae, was forced to give up an influential advisory role with the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama following suggestions that Mr. Johnson got special treatment from Countrywide. Mr. Johnson was leading the search for a vice-presidential candidate.

Mr. Conrad and Mr. Johnson, as well as other notable Washington figures including Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, were apparently beneficiaries of the mortgage lender’s V.I.P. program, known informally as the “Friend of Angelo” program for Angelo Mozilo, the chief executive officer.

Mr. Conrad said Friday that Mr. Johnson had put him in touch with Mr. Mozilo when he was seeking a loan for a home he was buying in Bethany Beach, Del.

E-mail messages initially obtained by the Web site Portfolio.com showed that Mr. Mozilo told employees to “take off 1 point” when granting the loan. He also told them to approve a $96,000 mortgage for an eight-unit apartment building Mr. Conrad was buying in Bismarck, N.D., though the company typically provided mortgages for buildings with four or fewer units.

Mr. Conrad said he would now refinance that loan. “I believe the evidence showed that I paid more than full market rates on that loan,” he said Saturday. “But I do not want to leave any impression that I have received preferential treatment in my personal business dealings.”

Others named by Portfolio.com as having been part of the V.I.P. program were Alphonso R. Jackson, a former housing secretary under President Bush; Donna E. Shalala, health and human services secretary under President Bill Clinton; and the former United Nations ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke.

Like Mr. Conrad, Mr. Dodd has said he was unaware of any special treatment in loans for a town house in Washington and a home in Connecticut. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Mr. Dodd has been central in developing a legislative response to the housing foreclosure crisis.

Countrywide’s lending practices have been criticized for adding to the crisis, and Mr. Mozilo’s compensation has drawn fire.

A watchdog group in Washington has asked the Senate ethics committee to investigate whether the mortgage terms violated Senate rules on gifts or other prohibitions on dealings with companies with interests before Congress.

Can you imagine the media fall-out if he were Sen. Kent Conrad, R-ND instead of Sen. Kent Conrad, D-ND???  That’s the first thing I thought of. If he were “R” instead of “D” it would be all over CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and all those other news outlets and it would be front-page headlines on the NY Times…

Well first they’d have to a weekly special on where North Dakota is, which may serve as a reminder to Conrad.

"week-long special” I meant.

Kay—actually, there’s been a lot of coverage nationally on the story, including bylined pieces in the Washington Post and New York Times, at least of the nuts and bolts of the deal and Conrad’s initial denials and then changed story. The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s important enough to have somebody write a piece for Sunday, even though it doesn’t publish today.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121354066009675461.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I think the reasons for the good coverage nationally are:

1. The presidential race is involved, i.e., James Johnson and the veep screening.
2. Portfolio broke the story, so the papers feel a need to restore their credibility.
3. Conrad’s excuses are lame.
4. And no one likes Kent Conrad. Reporters think he’s full of himself.

Those are my theories, anyway.s