WASHINGTON — The California congressman leading the investigation into whether members of Congress and other government officials received sweetheart home loans from Countrywide Financial Corp. has been accused of trying to protect Republican lawmakers caught up in the probe.
Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he hoped to get answers to “outstanding public-interest questions” when he issued a subpoena for records about Countrywide’s VIP discount program last year.
“The American people have a right to know the totality of who participated in the Countrywide’s VIP program and what they did in return for access to it,” Issa, R-Vista, said at the time.
But Issa’s committee has declined to publicly reveal the names of three House members whom the subpoenaed records indicate received the discounted loans. Instead, Issa has forwarded the lawmakers’ names to the House ethics committee for review, a practice he previously had condemned.
The House ethics panel operates in private, and the names became public only after they were leaked to the news media and confirmed by the lawmakers themselves. Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, reportedly received the discounted loans.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the oversight committee’s top Democrat, suggested in a letter to Issa last week that he had changed course because the three members in question are Republicans. Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., got a discounted loan, but his ties to the program were made public in 2009.
Issa’s spokesman, Frederick Hill, called Cummings’ accusations “a distortion of the facts.”
“The point that Congressman Issa has consistently made is that it is not the purpose of the oversight committee’s investigation to make judgments about members of Congress, whether or not they acted appropriately,” Hill said. “That task basically goes to the ethics committee.
“The purpose of the (oversight) committee’s investigation is to basically look at what happened on a factual basis within the Countrywide VIP program.”
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2012年1月14日星期六
AP source: House Republicans got discounted loans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America — it bought Countrywide — showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” — a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission
The discounts went to Reps. Howard McKeon and Elton Gallegly of California, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the loans and requested anonymity. Their identities were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating whether members of Congress received VIP discounts. The Associated Press reported previously that four House members had received the discounts. One of the four remains unidentified publicly.
Records show that Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y, also received discounts. Towns told the AP previously that he was not aware of receiving any discounts. McKeon and Gallegly told the Journal that they also were not aware of receiving discounted loans and did not know their mortgages were processed by the VIP unit.
The Journal said the 1998 loan to McKean, who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, totaled $315,000. Gallegly’s 2005 loan totaled $77,000 in 2005.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the oversight committee, informed both lawmakers that documents received from Bank of America — it bought Countrywide — showed they went through the special unit.
Issa has sent the information to the House Ethics Committee, which determines whether House members violated standards of conduct. A discounted loan could be considered a gift. Gifts are virtually banned under House rules.
None of the lawmakers has been accused by the ethics panel of any wrongdoing, and may never be if they convince investigators they had no knowledge of the discounts.
Countrywide was the nation’s largest mortgage company and played a major role in the U.S. financial crisis by issuing subprime loans. The company also had its VIP program, with some of the favored customers known as “Friends of Angelo” — a reference to chief executive Angelo Mozilo.
Mozilo in 2010 agreed to more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission
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