Romney endorser a top recipient of campaign funds from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

The Washington Post said on Monday former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign will attack former Speaker of the US House Newt Gingrich for work he did for Freddie Mac.  However, at least one well-known senator who has endorsed Romney was a top campaign cash recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Although Democrats were the major actors in the government-sponsored-enterprises, some Republicans also supported and/or worked for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, as detailed in Gretchen Morgenson’s best-selling book ‘Reckless Endangerment.’

Among them were former Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) and Rob Bennett, the son of former Republican Senator Robert Bennett (Utah).

Romney’s attack on Gingrich is similar to attacks launched on Texas Gov. Rick Perry about his stance on the Texas DREAM Act.

Ironically Perry did more than any governor in the nation to address border security.

Doubly ironic was the role fellow Republican and former Sen. Bennett played in loosening constraints on illegal aliens. The Center for Immigration Studies published a report written by a member of the Mormon faith. CIS said:

“The Mormon church arranged for a Utah senator to write a law to shield churches from prosecution for knowingly allowing illegal aliens to be ministers or do volunteer missionary work for them.”

A spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints confirmed their influence in getting Bennett to write the amendment.

Romney may not realize that among Republicans, a high profile senator who has endorsed Romney’s 2012 bid for the presidency , Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.),  was one of the top 20 recipients of campaign cash from Fannie or Freddie as of the 2008 election cycle. Blunt received the contributions when he served in the US House of Representatives.

A list of the top recipients is posted at Open Secrets. Obama, by the way, was one of the top three.

Thus far, Romney hasn’t criticized Blunt or other Republicans for involvement in or donations from the government-sponsored enterprises.

However, Democrats in Congress far outnumbered Republicans when it came to that support.

One Democrat, Sen. Chris Dodd is squarely at the center of the problems the government-sponsored-enterprises created. Morgenson’s book details how Dodd “quietly inserted” a change into a bill that allowed the Federal Reserve “more power to provide liquidity, by enabling it to make fully secured loans to securities firms in instances similar to the 1987 stock market crash.” Dodd introduced the amendment into the Senate markup “with no hearings, no prior notice,” said Morgenson. [pgs. 40-41]

Dodd was the top beneficiary of campaign cash from the GSEs.

It’s ironic that a Republican would be attacked for practices in the private sector with the government sponsored enterprises when there is more than enough to say grace over when it comes to Democrats.

The latest Rasmussen Poll has Gingrich ahead of Romney in the Florida Primary survey, 41 percent to 32 percent.

It is likely that due to Gingrich’s familiarity with the GSEs, he may be best equipped to figure out how to resolve their problems.

(Analysis by Kay B. Day/Jan. 23, 2012)