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RNC takes aim at member of VP vetting committee after newspaper report.
A veteran Democratic political insider from Minnesota who is helping Barack Obama vet vice presidential prospects is drawing fire from Republicans who have accused him of receiving special terms on loans.
The accusation follows a weekend story in the Wall Street Journal about loans that Jim Johnson, a former aide to Vice President Walter Mondale, received from Countrywide Financial Corp.
Johnson received the loans during and after his tenure as chief executive of Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored entity that was the biggest buyer of Countrywide’s mortgages, the newspaper reported.
It said a comparison of Johnson’s loans with prevailing interest rates at the time “raises the possibility” that Countrywide gave him “preferential terms.” But the Journal also said it was impossible to tell for sure from public documents because the disparity could be explained by a variety of other factors. And the paper noted that there is nothing illegal about a mortgage firm treating some borrowers better than others.
The Republican National Committee seized on the report as a problem for Obama, who has championed the causes of homeowners facing default. Party spokesman Brian Walton said the special loans Johnson received represent “a hypocrisy that shows Obama’s lack of judgment. Obama doesn’t understand that average Americans would never be able to get such deals.”
However, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said it was hypocritical for backers of GOP candidate John McCain to take issue with the loans when one of his top advisers, John Green, “lobbied for Ameriquest, which was one of the nation’s largest subprime lenders and a key player in the mortgage crisis.” Burton said Obama as president would “crack down on fraudulent lenders and bring real relief to Americans struggling in the grip of the housing crisis.”
Johnson, a native of Benson, Minn., did not return a call Monday to the Washington, D.C., merchant bank where he is vice chairman.
But his lawyer told the Journal that the loan terms were well within industry practice.
He served in the White House as Vice President Mondale’s right-hand man. In 1984, he chaired Mondale’s presidential bid. From 1993 until this month, Johnson also was a member of the board of directors of UnitedHealth, the Minnetonka-based insurer. He still sits on the board of Target Corp.
By Pat Doyle • 651-222-1210
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