Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion spent more than $50,000 in campaign contributions on a party for supporters and to enrich the Bronx Democratic Party soon after he was named President Obama's urban-affairs chief six weeks ago, according to filings at the Campaign Finance Board.

Records show that Carrion's campaign dropped $26,525 in February at Bayard's, a restaurant in the Financial District, for what was described as a "thank-you reception" for more than 500 people who backed his run for city comptroller.

Not long afterward, on March 5, Carrion wrote a $25,000 check to the Bronx Democratic Party, which forms the base of his political support.

Carrion spent the last three years raising $2.3 million for a citywide run, only to drop out on Feb. 19 when he was named to the White House post.

He had $1.1 million left in his war chest as of March 11, the last filing.

When The Post first inquired if Carrion would return his contributors' cash, officials said no one had asked.

Last week, however, the campaign acknowledged that "less than 10" people wanted their money back.

So a letter was drafted offering refunds. The campaign said in a statement that the refunds follow "practices used by other campaigns that have suspended operations and in compliance with New York state election law."

Carrion is under no legal obligation to pay back his contributors.

He also faces a much more serious issue: an investigation by the Bronx DA into whether he got a deal on the renovation of his City Island house in return for government favors.

Despite their denials, influential Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad and Chris Dodd were told from the start they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans has told Congress in secret testimony.

Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn't know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide Financial Corp. the company that went on to lose billions of dollars on home loans to credit-strapped borrowers. Dodd still maintains he got no preferential treatment.

Dodd got two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington. Conrad's two Countrywide mortgages in 2004 were for a beach house in Delaware and an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck in his home state of North Dakota.

Robert Feinberg, who worked in the Countrywide's VIP section, told congressional investigators last month that the two senators were made aware that "who you know is basically how you're coming in here."

"You don't say 'no' to the VIP," Feinberg told Republican investigators for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, according to a transcript obtained by The Associated Press.

The next day, Feinberg testified before the Senate Ethics Committee, an indication the panel is actively investigating two of the chamber's more powerful members:

—Dodd heads the Banking Committee and is a major player in two big areas: solving the housing foreclosure and financial crises and putting together an overhaul of the U.S. health care system. A five-term senator, he is in a tough fight for re-election in 2010, partly because of the controversy over his mortgages.

_Conrad chairs the Budget Committee. He, too, shares an important role in the health care debate, as well as on legislation to curb global warming.

Both senators were VIP borrowers in the program known as "friends" of Angelo. Angelo Mozilo was chief executive of Countrywide, which played a big part in the foreclosure crisis triggered by defaults on subprime loans. The Calabasas, Calif.-based company was bought last July by Bank of America Corp. for about $2.5 billion.