For ex-subprime king Ameriquest, money did the talking

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Deze man was een graag geziene gast in Amsterdam.
Hij is meerdere keren te gast bij ons dorpshoofd geweest.
Hij zal wel bagage meegenomen hebben?

Zoals gerapporteerd krijgen dit soort mensen geen kans bij Obama?

Citigroup heeft hem (en nog vele anderen) gefinancierd, en daar de wrange
vruchten van geplukt, ze zijn eigenlijk gewoon failliet.

Groet / Cees

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/03/ameriquest-arna.html

 2:40 PM, March 27, 2009

Today's L.A. Times analysis piece on the spotty regulation of the giant
financial firms that backed Ameriquest and other subprime lenders prompted
several e-mails suggesting that political donations kept the government at
bay.

In a letter to the editor, Daniel J. Fink of Los Angeles said that,
"Federal regulators may not have been watching Ameriquest Mortgage Co.,
but various state regulators tried."

"Unfortunately," Fink wrote, "their attempts were thwarted by Ameriquest's
founder and chairman, the late Ambassador Roland Arnall, who made generous
contributions to President Bush's campaign and other politicians."

Arnall’s wide-ranging contributions to Bush and a host of California
politicians were examined in a 2005 Times profile of the late billionaire,
as part of an investigative series into his now defunct city of
Orange-based empire.

Arnall, who died of cancer last year at 68, tended to give more to
Democrats earlier in his life, then shifted focus. He and his second wife,
Dawn, were by some accounts the biggest financial supporters of President
George W. Bush at the time of Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004.

As the Washington Post wrote in January 2005: "Roland and Dawn Arnall of
Los Angeles, the chairman and co-chairman, respectively, of Ameriquest,
and their companies are more than contributors to the inauguration. They
are also the single biggest source of financial support for Bush since
2002. Over the period, they gave and raised at least $12.25 million."

Arnall’s influence, however, remained bipartisan: Those favored with
invitations to the annual December holiday bash at his Holmby Hills
mansion would find themselves rubbing shoulders with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, his predecessor Gray Davis, and former California Atty.
Gen. (now Treasurer) Bill Lockyer.

Democratic political strategist Garry South, who had worked for Davis’
election as governor, described succinctly how Arnall chipped in with an
astonishing political influence and talent for fund-raising. "Roland was
responsible for Gray becoming governor," South told me when I was writing
the profile.

A footnote of sorts: When President Bush nominated Arnall to be ambassador
to the Netherlands in July 2005, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
refused to confirm him until Ameriquest and its parent company finalized
an agreement to pay $325 million to resolve predatory lending allegations
brought by dozens of states and the District of Columbia.

As reported by my former colleague, Jonathan Peterson, one vocal opponent
on the committee was the then-junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama,
who questioned "whether it is appropriate for us to send someone to
represent our country with these issues still looming in the horizon."

-- E. Scott Reckard

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