Dodd: Didn't know about AIG fundraising

FARMINGTON, Conn., March 31 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., says he wasn't aware of an e-mail sent by an AIG executive in 2006 urging employees to contribute to his campaign.

Dodd, speaking to reporters Monday in Farmington, Conn., said he never knew of the e-mail and noted that he had no idea at the time that AIG would later need billions of taxpayer dollars in bailout funds, The Hartford Courant reported.

He called a Monday story about the e-mail in The Washington Times "old news" and said, "I don't like the campaign process … but it is what it is."

The Times reported that former AIG Financial Products CEO Joseph Cassano sent the e-mail to executives at its Financial Products division, which is based in Wilton, Conn. It reportedly urged donations to Dodd because he was "next in line" to become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

"It's hard to know how unusual it is because it's so rare for these things to leak out," Massie Ritsch, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Courant. "These things are usually kept internal and that's how companies would like to keep it."