GOP questions Dodd's wife's fees

HARTFORD, Conn., May 6 (UPI) -- A Republican critic of U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., says fees collected by Dodd's wife as a corporate board member don't appear to be justified.

Connecticut GOP Chairman Christopher Healy, referring to a newspaper story reporting that Jackie Clegg Dodd collects $400,000 to $500,000 per year by serving as a director on corporate boards, said her lack of business background makes the fees questionable, The Hartford Courant reported Wednesday.

"It appears that Mrs. Dodd was given all of the privileges without the pedigree," Healy said. "If her most significant public credential is her business acumen, where was the business?"

Jackie Clegg Dodd is the founder and managing partner of Clegg International Consulting LLC, which the Courant said has had no clients for more than three years.

Dodd says his wife is well-qualified for her corporate posts because of her decades-long experience as an aide to the U.S. Senate banking and appropriations committees, and her high-level position with the Export Import Bank of the United States, the newspaper reported.