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CHICAGO: Democratic presidential candidate Barack
Obama was roiled by another campaign scandal Wednesday when a key
advisor resigned amid damaging reports that he had received
preferential home loans.
Although Jim Johnson, who has
been leading the hunt for a vice presidential candidate, denies any
favorable treatment, the accusations could dent Obama’s image as
an untarnished newcomer who has vowed to clean up Washington
politics.
Johnson, a former chief executive
of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, resigned just hours after Obama took
part in a round table in Chicago highlighting the impact of
predatory lending on Americans.
Millions have lost their homes
over the past two years, unable to keep up with soaring mortgage
payments. Some 1.5 million foreclosures were initiated in 2007,
marking a 53-percent spike from the prior year, according to the
Federal Reserve.
Johnson has denied a weekend Wall
Street Journal report that he may have received favorable treatment
from Countrywide Financial—a bank Obama has sharply criticized for
its role in the subprime lending crisis—while he was at Fannie
Mae.
But the Washington Post further
alleged Wednesday that Johnson benefited from an earnings
manipulation in 1998 which allowed the company’s executives to
earn large bonuses, pocketing some $1.9 million.
Obama said in a statement that
Johnson had resigned because he “did not want to distract in any
way from the very important task of gathering information about my
vice presidential nominee.”
The 46-year-old Obama, who has
campaigned with a call to change, has vowed to reject all
contributions from lobbyists and to rid politics of corruption and
self-interest.
His Republican rival John McCain,
who regularly vows to get rid of “pork barrel” spending in
Washington, has been criticized for giving lobbyists key positions
in his campaign.
McCain has lost five advisors in
recent weeks, two of whom had lobbied for the Myanmar junta while
others had lobbied on behalf of Saudi Arabia or Russia.
In the ethics war, McCain’s
campaign jumped on reports of Johnson’s alleged conflict of
interest to accuse Obama of hypocrisy and poor judgment.
The Obama campaign countered by
accusing McCain of hypocrisy in return, noting that a prominent
lobbyist is currently heading the Republican’s vice presidential
selection process and that his top economic advisor received a
$21-million severance package while presiding over “thousands of
layoffs at Hewlett-Packard.”
--AFP
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