Fannie Mae

Amid all the congressional criticism of the most recent mortgage-related bailout and today's news that the FBI is investigating Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others for committing fraud, it is interesting to point out that a number of senators running for re-election in 2008 have recently received campaign contributions from the Federal National Mortgage Association Political Action Committee (better known to most as the Fannie Mae PAC). And "recently" means calendar year 2008.

The biggest recipients? Senators Norm Coleman (a total of $7,500) and Saxby Chambliss (a total of $7,000) received the most out of all senators who are running for re-election. Earning a honorable mention and getting the most bang out of the special interest buck is Senator Roger Wicker, who received a total of $5,000 from Fannie Mae even though he only replaced predecessor Trent Lott on December 31, 2007.

Given that the federal government (and taxpayers for that matter) recently took over Fannie Mae, wouldn't the best thing these senators could do for taxpayers would be to return campaign contributions to Fannie Mae?

Below is the list of senators running for re-election who received Fannie Mae PAC funds in 2008:

Recipient's Name		Amount
COLEMAN, NORM		$7,500
CHAMBLISS, C SAXBY		$7,000
BAUCUS, MAX		$6,000
ALEXANDER, LAMAR		$5,000
COLLINS, SUSAN M		$5,000
CORNYN, JOHN		$5,000
ENZI, MICHAEL B		$5,000
WICKER, ROGER F		$5,000
ROBERTS, PAT		$4,000
SMITH, GORDON HAROLD		$2,500
LANDRIEU, MARY L		$1,500
MCCONNELL, MITCH		$500