I denounce the decision by Robert D. Lesser, president of JFACT (Jewish Federation Association of CT) to sponsor a thank-you tribute to Sen. Chris Dodd on Dec. 5 at Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek.

Like his father before him Sen. Chris Dodd should have been censured by the ethics committee for corruption when he accepted VIP treatment from a mortgage company under his jurisdiction. As the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee his goal is to reduce financial risk to prevent a crisis like the sub-prime melt-down of 2008. He stated on CNN (July 13, 2008) Wolf Blitzer’s show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sound and he also accepted $165,000 from Fannie and Freddie in campaign contributions. The Senate ethics committee did not clear Dodd of any wrongdoing ; they redefined bribery to exclude discounts.

Along with the rest of the Connecticut congressional delegation he is complicit in bankrupting the state and causing private sector jobs to flee to the south. His positive voting record on Israel does not give him a pass on the housing melt-down crisis and our multi-trillions in debt.

The great news is that the majority of the country was smart enough to throw their corrupt representatives out. The Gaza 54 has been reduced to the Gaza 45 including Fairfield’s own Jim Himes who is one of the remaining 45 signatories. The next Republican majority leader is the brilliant Eric Cantor from Virginia. Perhaps Connecticut will have enough of being the laughing stock of the nation and vote for fiscal conservatism and smaller government in 2012.

Elissa Fuchs, Hartford