Catastrophe - Dick Morris [81]
Yet when it comes to characterizing the purchase, Dodd seems to be in a dream world. In discussing his various properties and silent partners with the Courant, he said, “These were pretty transparent. They’ve been reported widely in the press, particularly the Irish cottage,” Dodd said. “It’s fairly routine and non-controversial in my mind.”308
“Fairly routine and non-controversial”? Not exactly, Chris. Don’t you read the newspapers? “Pretty transparent”? Is he kidding? There was nothing transparent at all about his ownership. In his Senate disclosure forms for the years 1995 through 2002, Dodd never divulged the name of his fellow owner who held the other two-thirds interest in the Innishnee property. Nor did he ever reveal his partner’s name in any other forum. He didn’t even follow the directions on the disclosure form and list the address of the property. He simply called it “Galway cottage.” Maybe he didn’t want anyone to find out any details about it. Because the only way any information about the ownership of the Innishnee property would be somewhat transparent was if you traveled to Dublin and visited the office of the land registry. Even there the mortgage documents weren’t available to the public—but the name of his partner, William Kessinger, was. Traveling thousands of miles to find the name but no other information is Dodd’s idea of “pretty transparent”? The purchase and sale of this property was anything but.
One thing that definitely was not transparent was the fact that the firm owned by Dodd’s partner in the Irish house, Bucky Kessinger, received federal contracts while he and Dodd owned the house together. Did Dodd check with the Ethics Committee on that, too? Because regardless of whether Dodd helped him or not—and there is no evidence that he did—it certainly doesn’t look good for a U.S. senator to partner with a man whose business received federal funds. Especially with the kind of amazing deal Dodd got on the real estate. And especially if Kessinger was also a partner of Ed Downe, as reported in the Hartford Courant.
Bucky Kessinger’s business, Kessinger Hunter, a Kansas real estate broker and development firm, leased federal property. According to records of the Office of Management and Budget, the firm received $1,371,343 in federal contracts from 2000–2003. (Records before 2000 are not available.) The sale of Kesinger’s share of the Irish property went through in January 2003, the last year Kessinger Hunter received money under a federal contract. But in that year the amount received almost doubled.
Contracts to KESSINGER/HUNTER & COMPANY (FY 2000–2008)
Summary
Total dollars: $1,371,343
Total number of contractors: 1
Total number of transactions: 20
Source: OMB Watch, http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?parent_id=176507&sortby=u&detail=-1&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO.
But by the time Dodd bought Kessinger out, Kessinger/Hunter had begun to look at much bigger horizons—which would eventually involve more that $85 million in federal contracts and require a bill passed by Congress to make the deal happen.
As early as 2002, Kessinger/Hunter expressed interest in developing a 9000-acre piece of land, near Kansas City, Kansas, that had previously been the site of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant.309 Kessinger/Hunter partnered with the International Risk Group and created a new entity, Sunflower Redevelopment, LLC, which proposed a clean-up and development of the former ammunition plant site. There were lots of complications, but eventually Sunshine worked out a deal that would give