A Connemara cottage has found itself caught up in the middle of a political storm in the US with an outgoing senator being accused of accepting a “sweetheart real estate deal” in exchange for helping a businessman friend get a presidential pardon for tax and securities crimes.
Judicial Watch, a public interest group in the US that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, filed an ethics complaint in April 2009 against Connecticut Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd, alleging that he assisted a long-time friend and associate to obtain a reduced sentence and ultimately a full presidential pardon from President Bill Clinton in exchange for “gifts”, which included a “sweetheart mortgage deal” on a seaside property located in County Galway, Ireland, and that he failed to properly disclose the property on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms.
However, on December 20, 2010, the US Senate Ethics Committee dismissed the Judicial Watch complaint. In response the Committee said that the complaint had been carefully evaluated but “after considering all the information before it, the committee has determined that there is not sufficient substantial credible evidence of improper conduct or violation within its jurisdiction to warrant further action by the Committee”.
According to the Judicial Watch’s ethics complaint it was alleged that Senator Dodd “used his position and influence as a United States Senator to intervene on behalf of his longtime friend and business associate, Edward Downe Jr” and benefited financially as a result of his intervention and failed to disclose financial benefits by filing inaccurate Senate Financial Disclosure Statements from 2002 through at least 2007.
The complaint further alleges that Senator Dodd appeared at a hearing on behalf of Edward Downe Jr in 1993 to help obtain a reduced sentence for violations involving tax and securities laws. In 2001, the Senator helped Downe again by securing a full presidential pardon on President Clinton’s last day in office. A year later, Senator Dodd allegedly received a significantly reduced, below market sales price, for a two-thirds interest in a property in Co Galway from Downe’s associate, William Kessinger. Senator Dodd had already owned a one-third interest in the property and Downe’s signature is said to be on the property transfer documents.
In a recent statement Senator Dodd described the allegations as “baseless” and “politically motivated”. Senator Dodd is due to retire this month after three decades in the Senate.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said: “The Senate Ethics Committee sat on our complaint for nearly two years and then dismissed it out of hand days before Dodd’s Senate career ends. Even in corrupt Washington, the Ethics Committee’s despicable handling of the Dodd matter is about as bad as it gets.”
