More On Chris Dodd

Glenn links to a new item sure to cast a growing shadow over Chris Dodd.

It takes considerable political skill for a U.S. senator to win a presidential pardon for a friend without the traditional review by the Justice Department. Sen. Christopher Dodd moved the furtive levers of power in 2001 for Edward R. Downe, convicted of tax and securities fraud eight years before.

The two men seem to be still linked.

Update: in 2006, Downey(sic) joined the board of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at UConn. I don’t know what a board seat sells for but I’m sure Chris was delighetd(sic) to receive the proceeds in honor of his disgraced father.

Mr. Downe pleaded guilty in the early 1990’s to insider trading and was sentenced to probation and stiff fines. He has also been a contributor to other Democrats. In a telephone interview, Mr. Downe declined to say whom he had enlisted in his bid for a pardon. ”I think that it is wonderful to have, and it will make my grandchildren very happy,” he said.

But there's no mention of his Wall St. background in the bio here. Clinton dedicated the current building while in office in 1995.

Mr. Edward R. Downe Jr. joined the Board during the past year. Mr. Downe worked in the field of journalism, serving as editor of Argosy magazine and published Family Weekly, a newspaper insert. He owned Downe Communications and is retired and living in New York City.

Here's the background on the original insider trading charges from 1992. I wonder if the Greenberg mentioned is the same one  in Chicago and still giving money to Dodd?

When prosecutors filed insider-trading charges against a group of prominent New York socialites on June 4, the news shocked the Long Island enclave of Southampton. There, the government contends, in a mansion on Ox Pasture Road, Edward R. Downe Jr. swapped inside corporate information with at least six friends. During parties, over poker, and on yachting excursions in the late 1980s, Downe allegedly provided this inner circle with stock tips that enabled the group to reap more than $23 million in profits. Downe has pleaded guilty to related criminal charges, while retired Kidde Chairman Fred R. Sullivan settled civil charges of giving Downe a takeover tip. Sullivan agreed to pay $58,000 in penalties.

The government "is ready to call things insider trading which aren't," says Harvey L. Pitt, attorney for one of the accused traders, public relations maverick Steven A. Greenberg.

Comments

[Psota]

There's also a connection with Dodd's "Irish Cottage." Dodd bought the "cottage" with a buddy who was a mutual friend of Downe's. Downe was even a witness at the signing ceremony!

[Jimbo]

Oh noes!!!More useless stuff for you idiots to fret about. Just watch and listen to Limbaugh. he will tell you what to think. But you were going to do that anyway. Little, bitty robots. Ha....

[Moonbat Whacker]

Yes Jimbo, we're all robots. And yet, for some odd reason, all of you lefties sound exactly the same. Like frustrated social-misfit teenage virgins or, if adults, like people who haven't grown past an adolescent emotional capacity. Even if someone scrubbed the ideology-specific elements from blog comments I could pick out the ones coming from lefties with 95% accuracy.

[templar knight]

The dumbo aka Jimbo is sounding more and more familiar. He reminds me of another troll who frequented this site a few weeks ago. Dumbo, nobody on this site listens to Rush, or rarely listens to him. But keep vomiting up your talking point from the DNC. The economy is melting down and all you clowns can do is hit on Rush. Jesus, go to work, or something. Oh, yeah, you're a Democrat, you clowns don't know what it is to work. It's welfare for you.

[13yankeebravo]

Hey Dumbo your ma said get off the computer and get the basement cleaned up .