Meet Christopher Dodd: The Bankers’ Choice For President

The Senate Banking Committee chairman takes ‘contributions’ from the very corporations he oversees. Meet Christopher Dodd: The Bankers’ Choice For PresidentBy Cliff Montgomery – Mar. 15th, 2007Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd is a man wearing two big hats on Capitol Hill: He is a Democratic presidential candidate, and he chairs the Senate Banking Committee.For Dodd, this may be a lucrative combination. Though he’s barely a blip on the electoral radar,  Dodd’s $5 million campaign nest egg is surpassed on the Democratic side only by that of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who predictably possesses one of the most efficient and elaborate fundraising machines ever assembled.The secret to Dodd’s electoral riches is found in his ties to the Senate banking panel, which oversees some of the wealthiest industries in the United States–banking, insurance and financial conglomerates. And it doesn’t hurt that Dodd’s home state is the hedge fund and insurance capital of America.But it is Dodd’s classical liberal philosophy which has especially made him a cash magnet.Regardless of what neo-conservative pundits want you to believe, liberalism is the political philosophy that all people deserve equal freedom and equal rights–it is not an insult to be hurled at anyone who has enough mind to disagree out loud with a neo-conservative.But there are two branches of liberalism: “classic” or “classical” liberalism–true American conservatism, which believes that at all times the government which governs least governs best– and modern liberalism, which believes that a true democratic government also has the duty to “promote the general welfare,” and “establish domestic tranquility.”Big-money interests applaud Dodd’s classical liberal approach to financial regulation, and considers him a reliable friend–a matter which makes one wonder how Dodd will do in a Democratic field which is just beginning to go back to its modern liberal roots.”It’s not something you would trumpet to [Democratic] primary voters,” Nathan Gonzales of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report recently told the Washington Post.But don’t count Dodd out yet. Experts say his connections have produced ample donations which will enable Dodd to make his name better known.”At this stage, the money primary is the biggest race,” Gonzales added.Financial services corporations “will be making contributions to Dodd’s presidential run because they can’t afford to annoy him,” Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Post.”Whether or not his presidential ambitions go anywhere, he’ll still be the chairman of Senate Banking Committee, and they will still need his goodwill.”Dodd, who was elected to the House in 1974 and the Senate in 1980, has never shied away from accepting funds from “Big Money” financial corporations. Since last year’s midterm elections, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup have hosted fundraisers for him, say participants. Insurance firms have hosted at least three fundraisers for Dodd.Dodd collected $3 million in the last three months of 2006 alone, out-raising even Sen. Clinton. Employees of Morgan Stanley and American International Group were two of the largest donors. According to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, Dodd has raised more money for his Senate campaigns from securities and investment firms than from any other financial groups.During an interview last week in his large fourth-floor office on Capitol Hill with the Post, Dodd expressed the usual appearance of distaste with the near-constant appeals for campaign contributions all presidential candidates must now endure. But, he added, he will not hesitate to take Wall Street’s generous gifts, even though he is chairman of the very committee that oversees its multi-billion-dollar corporations.Such a cozy relationship with Big Money will not affect his policy decisions on the committee, Dodd insists.”My record speaks for itself,” the senator told the Post.”I haven’t changed my tune. I’ve been, I think, fairly consistent in my views on these issues.”To be fair, Dodd has taken some positions which make Big Money nervous. He helped write the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which imposed stiffer penalties on corporate accounting trickery. He has also taken positions on a few narrow issues which upset financial firms, but are popular with the modern liberals who usually vote Democratic.The final shakedown? Senator Dodd seems like a decent, educated and rather reasonable legislator for his state, and his country; but the same can be said for most of the presidential candidates on either side of the aisle. His problem is that he may well be too dependent on the powerful groups he is supposed to oversee.Imagine a judge who continually accepts numerous gifts of money and other financial support from the very groups he is supposed to render judgments upon, and you can see the problem here. Senator Dodd is really no different than anyone else on Capitol Hill, though–his owners are just wealthier.In a way Dodd’s candidacy exposes the fundamental problem in this country’s political landscape. And it’s a damn shame.