Watchdog group: Boxer not transparent over all Countrywide mortgages

[Geee]

Daily Caller:

A watchdog group is questioning whether Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer could have been more transparent over a year ago in voluntarily disclosing the extent of her past mortgages with the company Countrywide.

But Boxer aides strongly argue that the watchdog group’s complaints are without merit and suggest the questions are suspiciously timed, considering how the California senator is locked in a tough re-election fight.

Boxer, as chairwoman of the Senate Ethics Committee, led a yearlong investigation beginning in 2008 into whether two Democratic senators acted improperly by being part of a VIP Countrywide program that gave influential clients favorable treatment.

At that time, Boxer told reporters that she had not been a part of the company’s VIP program and did not currently have any Countrywide mortgages. She did, however, volunteer to news outlets that, in the past, she had paid off two Countrywide mortgage home loans.

But one watchdog group says she wasn’t disclosing enough. According to extensive research provided to The Daily Caller by the non-partisan Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Boxer conducted business with Countrywide on another property too — as co-signer of a house with her son. The group argues that if you add up all the transactions, including re-finances, on those three properties, Boxer has actually signed for at least seven Countrywide mortgages.