Catastrophe - Dick Morris [78]
For someone in a position like Downe’s, Chris Dodd was a fortuitous friend to have. Dodd had been appointed chairman of the Democratic National Committee by Bill Clinton; he enjoyed easy access to the president and the White House. He’d spent years raising money for Clinton. Access was no problem. He could help Downe’s application get a hearing—no need to go to through regular channels Not only the S.E.C., but the Justice Department was blind-sided by the unexpected and blatantly political pardon.
As the Times wrote in an editorial about the controversial pardon:
Politics rather than a careful weighing of the merits also appears to have been the deciding factor in Mr. Clinton’s pardon of Edward Downe Jr…. Prosecutors in Ms. White’s office learned of the pardon decision last Friday—too late to effectively register their objections.298
It was the ultimate favor for Downe.
IRELAND: ANOTHER FREE RIDE
There is a magical place in western Ireland called Innishnee. Though only about an hour and a half away from the city of Galway, this small Connemara island is light-years away from anything urban or contemporary. As you drive out there, the landscape suddenly changes from the predictable Galway suburbs to dramatically beautiful scenes of rural county Galway, where mountains and lakes are bathed in golden sun and mauve shadows line the road to picturesque Roundstone, the closest mainland town to Innishnee.
A small bridge only about twenty to thirty feet long connects Roundstone to Innishnee, where unpaved roads that are wide enough for only a single car or two cows cross the small island. There’s not much traffic, but when two cars approach each other, local custom obliges one driver to back up to the nearest driveway to let the oncoming car pass by—even if that driveway is half a mile behind. Farmers slowly walking along the road with their cows also herd them into driveways to let the occasional car pass, even as the cows try to stick their large heads into the car windows.
It is a quiet, beautiful place where time has stood still. There are no McMansions, no stores, and virtually nothing to compete with the unparalleled views.
On the southernmost tip of the island, atop a crest overlooking the water on three sides with mountains in the background, is a spectacular piece of property of almost eleven acres, with a pristine 1,700-square-foot dormered white house at its highest point. The sheer size of the property dwarfs all other plots on that end of the island. From the high point where the house stands, the property continues across a shallow inlet to ethereal mountains which are part of the plot. With the property extending on both sides of the water, the beautiful view is protected from the intrusion of any new buildings that would spoil the enchanted setting. To the right is the dramatic Bertaghboy Bay, which flows out to the Atlantic Ocean. Behind the house, at a much lower point, the bay separates Innishnee and Roundstone.
It is this unique house and exquisite property that Chris Dodd bought with the help of yet another friend in 1994.
Dodd told the Hartford Courant that he first saw the stunning vacation property in the late 1980s and learned several years later learned that it was for sale. But, once again, while Dodd wanted to buy the property, he couldn’t afford it. It’s a common problem: How many of us have seen a beautiful house in a gorgeous setting in a foreign country and dreamed of buying it?
The difference is, the rest of us usually come to our senses and realize we can’t afford such a