THE HILL ON Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangel, et al.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) was not so lucky. Having already come under scrutiny for his role in securing a tax break for AIG while asking the company for donations to a building in Rangel’s honor, the reemergence of AIG as Public Enemy No. 1 was hardly helpful. Rangel defensively answered questions about his bill to tax AIG bonuses during a Thursday interview on CNBC, and faced yet another critical article on the subject in his hometown New York Times this weekend.
On the Senate side, Dodd was forced to answer a barrage of questions about his role in creating the bonus loophole. At first denying responsibility for the provision, and then pivoting to say the Treasury Department had requested its inclusion, Dodd has become a top target of not just his 2010 opponent Simmons, but Republicans nationwide. Along with Dodd’s numerous donations from AIG and troubling poll numbers, a series of critical headlines were hardly a boon to the Banking Committee chairman.
That’s why they’re calling him “Dodd Man Walking.”