A senior GOP aide, however, contended that Republicans would get much tougher treatment by ethics watchdogs and the media had they received preferential treatment from a lender.
“If they were Republicans, there would be calls from editorial boards across the country for the chairman of Banking to step down as the chairman of Banking. So there’s a double standard,” the aide said.
Dodd and Conrad are diverging sharply in their handling of the matter. Conrad has sought to redress the problem by giving a $10,700 gift to Habitat for Humanity. On Tuesday, he said that Ethics Committee staff indicated that he may need to pay Countrywide to wipe away entirely any appearance of impropriety.
On Monday, Conrad paid down one of his two Countrywide mortgages that is under scrutiny.
Dodd on Tuesday appeared to reject terminating his relationship with Countrywide or making a donation to charity commensurate to the financial break he received from Countrywide.
“I don’t believe we did anything wrong,” he said.
He explained that he and his wife shopped around for rates, making inquiries at Washington Mutual and Wachovia, among other lenders. He said the rates they received from Countrywide were well within the band of rates that borrowers were getting across the country.
“There wasn’t any red flag for me,” he said.
Dodd said that he and his wife received a 4.25 percent rate on a five-year adjustable rate mortgage on their Washington, D.C., residence, and a 4.5 percent rate on a 10-year adjustable rate mortgage on their Connecticut home. The rates amount to a discount of fractions of a percentage point, according to internal Countrywide e-mails obtained by Portfolio.
Countrywide also apparently shaved a percentage point from the fees on Conrad’s home mortgage. In addition, the lender made an exception by selling the senator a mortgage on an eight-unit apartment building he owns with his brothers. Normally, it provides loans on buildings with four or fewer units
Conrad on Tuesday sought to clarify a subsequent report that he spoke to Mozilo by phone about his mortgage, saying he didn’t call the lending executive or realize that talking to him could result in any special treatment.
“I didn’t call him. I called my friend who happened to be with him at the time,” he said, referring to James Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie Mae, whom Conrad says he called to ask for advice on getting a new mortgage.
By pure coincidence, according to Conrad, Mozilo was sitting next to Johnson, who suggested the senator speak to him directly. Conrad doesn’t recall whether Mozilo referred him to a Countrywide loan officer, or whether the company contacted him.
“If I could be faulted, it’s probably right there,” Conrad said of asking Mozilo for advice. He said he didn’t think twice about talking to the head of the lender about the mortgage, given his office in the Senate, because he’d done so with every one of the mortgages he’s taken from North Dakota lenders.
“Each and every one of them, I’ve dealt with the head or the No. 2 of the institution,” he said.
Conrad also said that, after his staff had contacted Countrywide, he learned that he did not receive a percentage point off the interest rate on his mortgage, as the initial report suggested. Instead, the lender had slashed one percentage point from his mortgage fees.
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