Sen. Dodd and His V.I.Lawyers

Dodd's legal expenses rise, from campaign rules but also Countrywide

14 Jan 2009 //

Republicans in this state are trying mightily to keep the focus on a story that is now seven months old: The revelation that Sen. Chris Dodd was a member of a special group of “VIP” customers of Countrywide, the mortgage giant whose business is the jurisdiction of Dodd’s Senate Banking Committee.

The senator has denied any wrongdoing and is cooperating with a Senate Ethics Committee inquiry into the matter, but reporters and political operatives alike have waited for months for Dodd or his staff to release unspecified documents they once promised would further demonstrate that he has done nothing improper. Those documents were originally expected in the height of last summer. We’re still waiting, and Dodd’s current position is to withhold any of those promised documents until after the Ethics Committee has finished with its investigation.

While a source for the story in Conde Nast Portfolio magazine (which broke the story) has said he was interviewed by federal investigators, neither Dodd nor Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., another VIP, have been interviewed by the Justice Department or the FBI, according to their respective staffs.

But that doesn’t mean the senior senator hasn’t had to lawyer up.

Dodd paid more than $60,000 to the politically connected Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie in the third quarter of 2008 out of his Senate campaign committee, according to public records. A December filing from his presidential campaign shows an additional $125,447 in outstanding invoices owed to Perkins Coie. (Kevin Rennie had the goods on how the money got from the presidential campaign over to the Senate committee -- more Perkins Coie assistance.)

Now Republicans, including party Chairman Chris Healy, want to know whether the senator is in legal trouble over the Countrywide VIP program, and whether he expects to have to explain himself to federal investigators. One figure in the scandal, former Countrywide loan officer and whistleblower Robert Feinberg, has said they came to call on him.

Dodd’s staff argues that the legal expenses were mainly incurred in the course of the senator’s presidential run, which abruptly ended in the Iowa caucuses a year ago. Perkins Coie partner Marc E. Elias served as general counsel to Dodd’s campaign, and the firm will also represent Dodd in the Federal Election Commission audit of his campaign’s books, a standard practice for candidates who accept matching funds.

But Bryan DeAngelis, the senator’s press secretary, confirmed Tuesday night that the firm is also offering Dodd “ethics advice” – a term that includes representing the senator in the Countrywide matter. No word on how much of that total bill is for other than electoral matters, or how much that bill is growing. And it’s worth pointing out that so far, no one has been charged with any crimes in the influence-expansion effort apparently directed by former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

Here, in full, is DeAngelis’ statement in response to our questions on this topic:

"Perkins Coie has provided legal assistance to the Senator’s office and political campaigns for over a decade. The firm provides a variety of legal services including campaign finance and ethics advice to the Senator and his re-election committee, as they do to more than four dozen other senators.

“They were also the law firm for his presidential campaign as they were for Barack Obama, John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Bill Bradley, and Joe Lieberman. As a result of accepting public matching funds, Chris Dodd for President must undergo an audit by the Federal Election Commission.  Perkins Coie represents the campaign in that audit.  

“The Senator has not been contacted by the Department of Justice or the FBI. He asked his attorney a couple of months ago to contact them and offer his cooperation. As with the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee review, the Senator will cooperate fully with any review of this issue.”