Catastrophe - Dick Morris [74]
Despite the voluminous evidence against him, Thomas Dodd did not go quietly. He denied all wrongdoing and at times pointed a finger back at his accusers. Dodd unsuccessfully accused his own employees of forging thirty-nine checks written to a D.C. liquor store. He sued former employees for invasion of privacy (he lost) and in a number of cases tried to blame his own improper spending of campaign funds on them! It was not a pretty picture.
Surprisingly, Thomas Dodd never actually denied he had received the money in question. His unusual defense was that the donors to the testimonial receptions actually thought they were making tax-free gifts to him, not political contributions to his campaign. This was contradicted by the text in the written invitations and the understanding of most of the organizers.
Apparently Senator Thomas Dodd had large debts—including an overdue tax bill of about $13,000 (about $89,000 in 2009 dollars). To put it into perspective, consider that the annual salary for senators from 1955 to 1965 was $22,000.282 In 1965, it increased to $30,000.283 So in 1963 and 1964 Dodd owed more than half of his annual salary in back taxes.
According to Pearson and Anderson, Dodd was frantically trying to raise money to pay back his personal creditors—as well as the IRS—and was willing to trade political favors for some of the loans he received. Pearson and Anderson described his relationship with one local businessman:
There is an interesting story involving the friendship between Sen. Tom Dodd and Sanford Bomstein who loaned $5,000 to Dodd in 1958 and raised $12,804 for him at a D. C. reception in 1963, part of which was used to pay Bomstein back.
Bomstein is a former cigar-store owner in Bridgeport, Conn., who moved to Washington to conduct four swinging nightclubs and restaurants…. where the teenage swingers congregate. It is the most popular rock ’n roll rendezvous in downtown Washington.
Bomstein has also been president of the Food and Beverage Association of the District of Columbia and as such was active in appearing before Congressional committees on behalf of liquor dealers. He has wanted to keep the drinking age in the District of Columbia at 18 instead of 21, an age which brings teenagers flocking into the District of Columbia from adjacent Maryland and Virginia on weekends.
Shortly before Bomstein helped raise $12,804 at the 1963 D.C. reception for Dodd, the Senator from Connecticut was being pressed by Internal Revenue on a previous income tax payment. He owed the government $13,500 and Internal Revenue notified him that it had waited for payment as long as it could. If there was further delay, IRS agents threatened to open his books.284
Pearson and Anderson further described the symbiotic Dodd-Bomstein connection:
Dodd’s Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee had been investigating the sale of liquor to teenagers in the District of Columbia…. After Dodd became chairman of the Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee, the investigation into D.C. nightclubs was suddenly halted. So it’s not surprising that Bomstein was happy to help raise money for Dodd.285
In June 1967, after the investigating committee’s unanimous ruling, the U.S. Senate voted to censure Senator Thomas Dodd by a vote of 94–5. Only four of his colleagues joined him in voting against the measure.
But that was not the end of the Dodd family relationship with Mr. Bomstein.
THE DODD HOUSE ON E STREET
When Chris Dodd came to Washington with his first wife, Susan Mooney Dodd, they bought a town house at 508 E Street, SE.
But there was something unusual about the Dodds’ acquisition of the house on E Street. A review of the transaction