The Courant’s Rick Green delivered an excellent retort to the Sunday editorial by Bill McCue on his “CT Confidential” blog by pointing out that the problem isn’t necessarily the problem:

The issue is whether Dodd, a prominent member of the Senate Banking Committee, was told that he was getting a special deal because he was a V.I.P. “friend” of Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. The issue is whether Dodd received special treatment because of his position. Were all those junk fees that non-senators pay when they finance a mortgage waived? A former Countrywide loan officer told me they were.

While there remains some discussion about just how goodthe sweetheart deal was, that doesn’t detract from the more pertinent point: Senator Dodd got these loans not because of competitive bidding between brokers but rather by being a FOA - “Friend of Angelo” Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide - a man who was currying favor with a player on the Senate Banking Committee.  It is a great irony that some of Senator Dodd’s friends can turn so blind an eye on such activity when it is so clear.

It is Day 144 of Dodd Watch, and what have we learned to this point?  The Senate Ethics Committee is digging around into the affair as well as the Justice Department.  For all of Senator Dodd’s attempts to deny that there is any “there” there, the evidence at the moment certainly seems to suggest otherwise.  But then again, that there is not enough evidence from Dodd is the problem, as Mr. Green concludes correctly:

We don’t know the real story because Sen. Dodd is not releasing all information until the Senate Ethics Committee completes its investigation. Until Sen. Dodd releases all documents related to the Countrywide deal, this isn’t going away.

Indeed.

If you spot Election Day infractions tomorrow, shoot an e-mail to votefraud@gmail.com to report the violation.  Our friends at ElectionJournal.org will be tracking all the reported violations throughout the day.  www.electionjournal.org for more information.

With the countdown to Election Day now into hours remaining, the long national melodrama that has been the 2008 election season is nearly complete.  The campaigns are still pushing on hard on Get Out the Vote efforts while the candidates scramble to meet every wayward voter they can find at diners, coffee shops, and senior centers.  No one is safe.

The Hartford Courant took the time to generate a ‘Ten Races to Watch’ blurb that highlights many of the obvious “ones to watch”:  Shays versus Himes in the 4th Congressional District, Bozek versus DeFronzo in the 6th Senate, Witkos versus House in the open 8th Senate District, the incompetent Sen. Joe Crisco versus fireball GOPer Tamath Rossi in the 17th Senate, and the Russo-Musto race in the 22nd.  However, this list skips over several other good Senate races that should be worth watching tomorrow night.

2nd Senate District - Sen. Eric Coleman vs. GOP challenger Veronica Airey-Wilson

Barack Obama is suppose to be a game changer in this district, and he may well be.  But Republican challenger Veronica Airey-Wilson has waged a spirited campaign against the listless Sen. Eric Coleman.  Coleman has been badly damaged in the past by challenges from Bloomfield Democrats, and if the Bloomfield Dems break for Airey-Wilson tomorrow night to rid themselves of Coleman, look for a surprise pick up for the GOP.

4th Senate District - Sen. Mary Ann Handley vs. GOP challenger David Blackwell

Senator Handley has run a pure vanilla campaign, touting the usual “accomplishment” talking points, trumpeting experience, and praying that Barack Obama lifts her candidacy over a strong challenge from former State Representative David Blackwell from Manchester.  Blackwell earned the endorsement of the Glastonbury Citizen late last week - a key town for the Republican - and has been running a shoe-leather campaign, knocking on 8000+ doors.  The district sticks with incumbents and doesn’t change horses easily - Sen. Paul Munz lost in 1996 in a narrow 93 vote loss.  Look for a similarly close result tomorrow.

12th Senate District - Sen. Ed Meyer vs. GOP challenger Ryan Suerth

State Senate candidate Ryan Suerth of Madison has run a spirited campaign against Senate curmudgeon-in-chief Ed Meyer in the battle to represent the six shoreline towns of the 12th.  Suerth is an energetic veteran of Iraq with a young family.  The 12th was not so long ago a Republican stronghold.  It remains to be seen whether Suerth can return it to Republican hands.

We’ll have full coverage of the results tomorrow here at The Everyday Republican.  We’ll be broadcasting results as we get them here from our War Room, which will be set up at our New Britain Office, 321 Ellis St., Suite 501.  Check back here regularly for the results as we get them.

One can’t help but wonder what is going on at the Torrington Register-Citizen.  That paper’s reactions to the saga of former State Rep. George Wilber have been nothing less than bizarre - and they capped that response yesterday with the endorsement of a man who can measure his candidacy in hours.

The whole thing started when a woman accused State Rep. George Wilber of sexually abusing her from the time she was 11 years old until age 18.  Mr. Wilber, a dairy farmer from Colebrook, took out a mortgage on his farm to pay the woman a $100,000 settlement.  The alleged abuse and confirmed payment was not publicly disclosed until the Torrington Register-Citizen ran with the story on October 18th. 

In that story, Mr. Wilber’s “defense” seemed a little unbelievable, as we pointed out at the time:

“I took the high road,” said Wilber, who is running for a fourth term in the state legislature. “I made a settlement.”
Wilber vociferously denied any wrongdoing, calling the accusations “ridiculous.”
“These accusations are false,” he said. “I coached Little League.”
When asked about the charges that led to the settlement, Wilber said he “didn’t know if she called it sexual harassment or sexual abuse.”

State Rep. Wilber did not, apparently, elaborate on how sexual abuse could be confused with coaching Little League, nor on how paying $100,000 to an accuser constituted the “high road”.

The Register-Citizen saw fit to weigh in the next day with an editorial questioning the integrity of the person who exposed Mr. Wilber, rather than questioning Wilber himself.  The Ed Board clearly suspected the Republican candidate, Mr. John Rigby, of a dirty trick, though he swore that he had nothing to do with the thing - again missing the point that Wilber paid $100,000 in hush money to protect his name.

Yesterday, the newspaper capped this saga off by endorsing the write-in candidate William Riiska.  The newspaper, seeming to place a high value on Mr. Riiska’s Democratic label and George Wilber’s legacy, endorsed this man and basically gave Riiska a free newspaper ad for the rest of the article.

The paper seems dismayed at having had to run the original Wilber story and angry at the person who forced their hand by supplying the information - whom they plainly attribute to Rigby. Yet there seems to be no incredulity from them for Mr. Wilber’s “I coached Little League” defense nor any disbelief that a man would pay $100,000 in hush money to suppress “ridiculous” accusations.  It is a truly odd epilogue to the terrible saga of former State Rep. George Wilber.

It was already well known that Nutmeg State ghosts were civic-minded - as more than 8000 of them turned up on the voter rolls in CT last spring. But this community “spirit” continues to haunt the Sunshine State of Florida too.

WFTV in Central Florida identified more than 1600 registered dead in that key battleground state across several FL counties. But they aren’t just lingering. The TV station also found several cases of ballots being cast for these dead folks.

?This is what makes Supervisors of Elections lose sleep at night,? said Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall.

That’s quite a Get Out the Vote operation.
“Blogging by Blackberry”

Breaking News from MSNBC: On Day 140 of Dodd Watch, MSNBC has revealed that the Justice Department is investigating the Countrywide VIP Loan program that doled out two sweetheart mortgages to Sen. Chris Dodd, among others.

According to MSNBC’s ‘Deep Background’, the Justice Department is investigating the legality of Countrywide’s VIP Program.  Former Countrywide loan officer Robert Feinberg, the gentleman who was in the middle of the so-called FOA (’Friends of Angelo’) loan program, spent six hours talking to investigators with the Justice Department’s Public Integrity unit.

“The Justice Department is making very serious inquiry into any possible wrongdoing that may involve (former Countrywide CEO) Anthony Mozilo, other Countrywide employees, Sen. Chris Dodd, Sen. Kent Conrad, (former Fannie Mae CEO) Franklin Raines or other public officials,” said Feinberg’s lawyer, Anthony Salvano. “Robert has always cooperated thoroughly with authorities and is strictly a witness in their investigation.”

The revelation that Justice is now involved is only the latest in the Dodd VIP Mortgage scandal.  The pressure on Dodd has been growing in recent days as editorial boards and local reporters have finally (!) picked up the scent of blood in the Dodd case - mostly after Dodd started giving doublespeak answers about when he would release the documents.

Dodd has refused to release the documents, after having promised to release them back in July.  It has been 140 days since the story broke, and people are getting sick and tired of Dodd’s antics.  His approval ratings are starting to tank and the sharks are starting to circle.  It remains to be seen whether Dodd will go the way of his father and take a public rebuke from the Senate or do himself a favor and resign his post.

The Dodd scandal teaches an important lesson for Connecticut voters.  For too long, we’ve had Senators who have chosen to be national figures, doing their best to rub elbows with the powerful elite from Washington to Wall Street.  These connections have propelled both men to failed Presidential bids and long absences from regular people in Connecticut.  It would be to the benefit of folks in Connecticut if we finally got a Senator that wanted to represent Connecticut, instead of using us as a staging ground for the White House.  Hopefully Dodd will get out of the way so we can have that kind of representation in Washington again.