At least one of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate wants Sen. Christopher Dodd to resign after reports that he was not in the dark about a special mortgage deal from Countrywide.
In reports released Tuesday morning, Robert Feinberg, a 12-year employee at Countryside, told investigators that Dodd and others were told they were in the VIP loan department and and would get a special discount. Dodd and his wife, Jackie, have vehemently denied doing anything improper in negotiating loans with Countrywide.
Still, Republican Senate candidates are speaking out.
State Senator Sam Caligiuri said the trust the public has with its elected officials continues to be damaged. If the charges against Dodd are true, Dodd should resign because he not only did wrong, but he also covered it up, Caligiuri said in a news release.
"The people of Connecticut deserve better than to have to continually deal with the "don't say no to the VIP" mentality that has plagued Connecticut in the past and clearly plagues us with Chris Dodd today. Connecticut deserves no less than a full and open investigation of this matter," Caligiuri said.
Another Republican candidate for Dodd's seat, former U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons, issued a statement that the people of Connecticut are entitled to a full accounting of the truth.
"The people of Connecticut are entitled to a full accounting of the truth and I look forward to a complete report from the Senate Ethics Committee," Simmons said.
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“Senator Dodd and his wife, Jackie, have demonstrated that they received market rates and terms on their loans,” Dodd’s office said in a statement released Monday night. “As they have said all along, they did not seek or expect any special rates or terms on their loans and they never received any; they were never offered special or sweetheart deals and if anyone had made such an offer - they would have severed that relationship immediately.”
The office said they had “absolutely no reason to believe that any special or sweetheart deal was being offered.”
The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee is investigating the charges against Dodd.
