Did Bank of America write the Dodd bailout bill?

[flashl]

Those following the progress of the Dodd-Shelby mortgage rescue plan in the Senate might want to check out two solid pieces of enterprising reporting on the bill this weekend.

First, The Examiner's Tim Carney reports the bailout section of the Dodd-Shelby bill is, in the words a lobbyist, "exactly what Bank of America and Countrywide wanted."

Is there a connection between Bank of America and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.)? There is. Carney: "Bank of America's political action committee (PAC) has donated $20,000 to Dodd since he became chairman of the banking panel 17 months ago. From January 2007 to March 2008, Bank of America employees have donated at least $50,400 to Dodd's campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

National Review's The Corner follows up, citing an internal Bank of America document that "would appear to support the contention that BofA essentially wrote the bailout section of the bill."

LA Times Blog

[Donnachaidh]

1. And this was the guy some here wanted as president?

Bush has the energy people writing laws. And Dodd would have banks writing laws. I wonder who the others would have writing their laws?

[Mojorabbit]

2. I posted somewhere

else today that he had received over four hundred thousand dollars from the banking industry. Still, I appreciate his respect for the constitution and his fillibuster attempt for fisa. Sigh.
Here is the link
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3498121&mesg_id=3498486

[seasat]

3. Not the first time he's done this

While I like his stances on civil liberties, labor, and the environment, he is very supportive of corporate interests. He authored tort reform legislation in '95 to limit investor options in suits against corporations. When Clinton vetoed it, he lead an overturn of the veto. In return he received almost a million in campaign donations from the corporations that benefited. He earned a Golden Leash Award for his support of that bill.