Sen. Conrad's Countrywide Role Overlooked

In essence, by creating the reserve fund for Dodd’s housing bill, Conrad created a way to increase funding for the bill without question.

Conrad has admitted he has a conflict of interest in Countrywide and the housing bill and made a $10,500 donation to the charity Habitat for Humanity over the weekend—the amount his “Countrywide discount” was worth.

Still, most of the media’s attention has remained focused on Dodd, who received an amount of $75,000 worth of discounts over the life of his two Countrywide mortgages on his Washington and Connecticut homes. He contends he did not receive any preferential treatment although Portfolio’s report suggests otherwise.