U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd may have thought he put his problems behind him when he scooted off to Ireland for some August recess, but The Truth is Out There over his two sweetheart loans deals from Countrywide Financial.

Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie disclosed in Sunday’s edition more details that have not been made public for lack of interest from the day to day media in Connecticut, who couldn’t be bothered into going down to the East Haddam Town Hall and reviewing what is available to all.

Rennie, who is a lawyer during the day, understands land transactions and he reveals that the Dodd knowingly reaped the benefits of their loans deals through the “Friends of Angelo” program, offered to Washington, D.C. insiders by Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

As Rennie explains, the Dodd’s moved money around deftly to leverage every cubic foot of their two homes. In fact, Dodd claimed both homes as his “primary residence” to ensure he could spring a $50,000 home equity loan on the cheap.

“On June 10, 2003, Dodd signed a $506,000 mortgage at a steeply discounted rate (more than half a percent) of 4.25 percent, adjusting in five years. The document Dodd signed stated that the Washington property was his principal residence.

Three weeks later, Dodd was in Connecticut to refinance the $275,000 mortgage that he’d gotten 20 months earlier on his East Haddam property. When he got that mortgage in 2001, Dodd signed a “second home rider.” Second homes are more expensive to finance due to increased risk — they aren’t occupied as much — and because they don’t receive the tax advantages the government and lenders give to principal residences.

But as a “friend of Angelo,” Dodd did not need to trouble himself with the traditional restrictions placed on second home mortgages. Countrywide waived them for Dodd on the 2003 loan, according to a former company employee. Dodd’s loan, reduced to a 4.5 percent interest rate shortly before the closing, adjusts after 10 years. This time there’s no costly second home rider.

That omission will save Dodd thousands over the term of the mortgage. The worldly chairman of the Senate Banking Committee had to have known what a gift he was getting when Countrywide ignored rules and costs it imposed on other second-home borrowers.

There’s more. Dodd got a $50,000 home equity loan on the East Haddam house, though second mortgages on second homes were rare at freewheeling Countrywide. That still wasn’t enough. Dodd probably didn’t realize that a careful reading of records reveals that on closing day he was going to borrow $276,150 to refinance his mortgage. That probably included enough to cover fees some harried worker compiling the closing documents at Countrywide assumed every borrower paid.

Countrywide fees, however, were for not-so-important people. So Dodd didn’t ink the mortgage that July day. Instead, he signed a form that allowed a Countrywide agent to sign a revised mortgage for him for $275,042, reflecting, in all likelihood, the waiving of fees.

A “friend of Angelo” could grind $1,108 out of Countrywide at the last minute, so Dodd did. He’ll probably continue to excoriate the mortgage industry for its expensive practices. Sunlight and the public’s notion of fairness, however, will raise the cost of sweetheart loans such as his. And that’s why Dodd won’t show his documents.”

Dodd knows how tough it is for people to understand how hard it is to sort through your lending options. In fact, on his Presidential website, Dodd offered to do what he can to make life fairer for the average home seeker:

“(T)he home buying process has grown increasingly complicated with lenders offering prospective homeowners an array of mortgage products, some of which are predatory and unaffordable. As President, Chris Dodd will create a Preserving Homeownership Initiative to help families understand and improve their credit scores, educate consumers on how to shop for the best mortgage rates, direct home buyers to down payment assistance programs, and teach consumers how to steer clear of predatory lenders.”

It would be nice to know what Sen. Dodd’s credit score is to qualify him for such wonderful deals with Countrywide, the poster child of predatory lending. There is even more drivel on the Dodd for President site that would make the Senator’s most fervent supporters wince.

Sen. Dodd has been at this game for a long time. He knows how bad this looks so Dodd is doing what all serial politicians do – deny it is happening to them and hope the media will either grow tired of it and the voters will shrug it off by 2010. In Dodd’s world, there is plenty of time between now and the Election for this issue to get lost in the haze of a Presidential race and then, if Barack Obama wins, trivializedit as a minor matter when a Presidential appointment is offered. Ironically, Dodd claims to have offered Obama’s vetters his financial information, which should include this myriad of loans. Wonder what their take on it is?

But it won’t go away. Not until Sen. Dodd keeps his word, explains all the documents, emails and other communication between him, his wife and the officials from Countrywide, the latter of which were eager to make his various loans work for him.

What is most galling about this is Rennie’s laser point on how what Dodd did was a commonelement in the overall collapse of the mortgage industry – cheap loans being used for investment purposes on second homes and speculative housing. When none of the loans generated any cash, they were rolled up and overall value tanked. And of course, there is the issue of going to such lengths to avoid paying $1,108 in closing costs. You would think after what he father endured, Dodd would know better.

Dodd is both part of the problem and the answer. If he were to be honest about what he did, then one could adequately measure his motivation for the billions in taxpayer subsidy he authored recently. It was the completion of the $300 billion bailout bill and the rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when Dodd promised to release all his documents to the Hartford Courant.

But then, the rolling fields of Ireland called, and Dodd couldn’t be bothered.