Fannie and Freddy targeted senators to keep regulation from being signed

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.

...

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.

In the end, there was not enough Republican support for Hagel's bill to warrant bringing it up for a vote because Democrats also opposed it and the votes of some would be needed for passage. The measure died at the end of the 109th Congress.

Source from AP, through Yahoo

Well this is getting interesting.

[edit on 19-10-2008 by davion]

Davion,

It's going to kill me to say this, but a star and flag for you sir! If an investigation finds any facts to back up these claims, all involved should be drawn and quartered right in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I am tired of these bastards selling out my country!

Edited to add: That Franklin Raines guy is a real bastard, did you know he fired a whistleblower? Check it out...

In 2004, after a tip from a whistle blower who was later fired, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (Ofheo) issued a report finding that the government-sponsored entity Fannie Mae had engaged in Enron-like accounting machinations that allowed Fannie to overstate its earnings and underestimate the risk the company faced. The accounting wizardry Fannie engaged in was designed so that Fannie could meet profit targets tomaximize bonus payments to company executives like Clinton administration deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick and Carter administration assistant director for domestic policy Franklin Raines.

online.wsj.com... Outlook-US

How about that D, you and I are denying a little ignorance together.

My Sharp Friends
These are my collaborators as I work to deny ignorance.
8 friends:
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x ProfEmeritus
x greeneyedleo
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x Muppetus Galacticus
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x davion

[edit on 10/20/2008 by TheRooster]

[edit on 10/20/2008 by TheRooster]

Wait a second, why would they target Republicans when its democrats who were running cover for F&F? Do I have to dig up the video of their hearings?

reply to post by TheRooster


It just gets deeper and deeper, I guess. Everyone has got their hands in this piece of pie.

Originally posted by Marcus Calpurnius
Wait a second, why would they target Republicans when its democrats who were running cover for F&F? Do I have to dig up the video of their hearings?

You don't need to dig up the video. They targeted the republicans because the republicans were pushing for oversight. And of course once again, you and I were appearantly let down and sold out as it appears the oversight bill never made it out of committee, hence the payoff.

Who's worse, the junkee or the pusher?

Originally posted by davion
reply to post by TheRooster

 

It just gets deeper and deeper, I guess. Everyone has got their hands in this piece of pie.

Hands? These guys are in this pie up to their eyeballs!
Second line.

Originally posted by Marcus Calpurnius
Wait a second, why would they target Republicans when its democrats who were running cover for F&F? Do I have to dig up the video of their hearings?

Because the Democrats were already set against it, mainly because of the more extreme aspects of the bill that they didn't agree with. The Republicans were on the fence about it, so they (Fannie/Freddie) secretly had DCI undermine the bill by talking to Republicans and telling them it'd hurt the housing boom, it turns out that many of the Republicans they targeted were also running for reelection and I think DCI used that as leverage.

[edit on 20-10-2008 by davion]

[edit on 20-10-2008 by davion]

Originally posted by Marcus Calpurnius
Wait a second, why would they target Republicans when its democrats who were running cover for F&F? Do I have to dig up the video of their hearings?

It makes sense, though. Both Repubs and Dems voted for the bailout package. We know there is corruption on both sides.

This is a good find. Davion gets a star and flag.