Help ACU Get to the Liberal Economic Root of the Problem

by: the american conservative union | published: 10 10, 2008

Just a few months ago ACU noted the corruption in Fannie Mae's past. Do you remember my email Many signed petitions urging an investigation of Franklin Raines' tenure at Fannie Mae.

Unfortunately we have now all seen the result of his actions. 

The greed of executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and those associated with them helped drive our nation down the path to a troubled economy.

You'll recall we noted that under Raines' tenure at Fannie Mae, BUSINESS WEEK magazine reported, "... the aggressive tactics of mortgage lenders have been made possible by systems developed in recent years by Fannie Mae...(these) allow for higher loan-to-income ratios... the relaxed ratios could pose serious problems ... defaults are rising... For Fannie Mae ... began expanding into subprime mortgages two years ago...." And we have pointed out that just this year Raines took a settlement with federal prosecutors in his role cooking Fannie Mae's books to increase his and other executive bonuses. This scheme helped him pocket nearly 50 million dollars. 

These are facts you will not read in our mainstream newspapers.

THAT IS WHY ACU IS TAKING THE NEXT STEP IN CALLING FOR A FULL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, THEIR FORMER LEADERS AND THEIR LIBERAL CONGRESSIONAL FRIENDS ON THE HILL. WE ARE WORKING TO SHINE LIGHT ON THIS ISSUE. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SIGN A PETITION HERE, NOW, CALLING ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OPEN AN INVESIGATION AND FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE NOW.

Now, we are learning even more about the root of the problem.

We know that Franklin Raines former boss, President Bill Clinton, in whose administration he served as White House Budget chief, was responsible for re-writing federal loan programs to encourage risky loans by amending the Community Reinvestment Act during his Presidential term. And, also during his tenure, liberal Congressional Democrats helped force Fannie Mae into the business of subprime loans of which Raines and his crew later took advantage.

The PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW newspaper recently noted, "...in 1992, a majority-Democrat Congress mandated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increase mortgages for low- and medium-income borrowers In 1995, it was Bill Clinton's Treasury Department that used the CRA to lower lending standards.... Then there's the bipartisan 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (more deregulation without oversight), which Clinton signed into law."

So, who were the liberal Congressional Democrats who joined the White House in helping push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into the business of subprime loans? Who were the Congressional watchdogs who looked the other way while Raines and his crew worked their magic?

We need to look no further than the liberals who now occupy the Chairmanships of the committees tasked with overseeing these entities. That's right: Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank. They have been the leading Democrats on the committees overseeing these matters. 

Frank and Dodd are also two of the largest recipients of cold, hard, campaign cash from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Dodd has taken more than $165,000 and Frank more than $42,000 from the two entities during their careers, according to opesecrets.org.

And, it should be noted, that even though he has been in Congress for a much shorter time than either Dodd or Frank, Barack Obama is number two on that list, with more than $125,000 taken from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined. The same organizations who he went to for leadership in selecting the Chairman of his Vice Presidential search committee.

The WALL STREET JOURNAL noted that Chris Dodd, "derided critics who he said were ‘repeatedly raising alarm bells about the risks Fannie and Freddie pose to the financial system."

The WEEKLY STANDARD wrote that, "Senator Dodd went in front of the television cameras to defend Fannie and Freddie. He said that they were sound institutions, had access to capital, and had significantly tightened their lending standards..."

It is simply amazing how far the corruption, or simple willful lack of oversight, trail might lead.

THAT IS WHY ACU IS TAKING THE NEXT STEP IN CALLING FOR A FULL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, THEIR FORMER LEADERS AND THEIR LIBERAL CONGRESSIONAL FRIENDS ON THE HILL. WE ARE WORKING TO SHINE LIGHT ON THIS ISSUE. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SIGN A PETITION HERE, NOW, CALLING ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OPEN AN INVESIGATION AND FOR THE POSSIBLE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE NOW.

Questions need to be asked and answered. 

While working under the guise of supposedly encouraging low income housing, did these liberal Democrat leaders actually help push Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into risky loan behavior to help their friends? Who was involved? What do they know?

The ACU has already pointed out that Senator Dodd has even more to answer for as it relates to this corruption. 

In a secretive Countrywide mortgage project deemed, "friends of Angelo" or FoA, standing for Friends of Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, it has been uncovered that Countrywide apparently provided special loan rates for connected officials. These included Fannie Mae's Franklin Raines, James Johnson (whom Obama selected to help pick his VP) and Senator Christopher Dodd. 

THAT IS WHY ACU IS TAKING THE NEXT STEP IN CALLING FOR A FULL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, THEIR FORMER LEADERS AND THEIR LIBERAL CONGRESSIONAL FRIENDS ON THE HILL. WE ARE WORKING TO SHINE LIGHT ON THIS ISSUE. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SIGN A PETITION HERE, NOW, CALLING ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OPEN AN INVESIGATION AND FOR THE POSSIBLE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE NOW.
After our call for an investigation into Franklin Raines, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, appropriately stood up and called for a criminal probe of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We appreciate his efforts.

Now, we must do more to ensure this issue is not swept under the rug by the liberal media. And, we need to push harder to have a full investigation of not only Fannie and Freddie, but of the people associated with them and their liberal Congressional allies.

THAT IS WHY ACU IS TAKING THE NEXT STEP IN CALLING FOR A FULL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, THEIR FORMER LEADERS AND THEIR LIBERAL CONGRESSIONAL FRIENDS ON THE HILL. WE ARE WORKING TO SHINE LIGHT ON THIS ISSUE. WE ARE ASKING YOU TO SIGN A PETITION HERE, NOW, CALLING ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OPEN AN INVESIGATION AND FOR THE POSSIBLE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR. PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE NOW.  

We hope you will help us in this fight today.

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