Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/September 27, 2010

Lott Dod was the male Neimoidian senator of the Trade Federation, representing the trade conglomerate's interests in the Republic Senate. Dod, a manipulative being skilled at political maneuvering, held this position from as early as 33 BBY, when he fought against the taxation of the Federation-dominated Free Trade Zones. When this initiative failed, the Federation invaded the Mid Rim world Naboo in retaliation in 32 BBY. When Naboo's queen, Padmé Amidala, came to the Republic capital Coruscant to call upon the Senate to send much-needed aid to her beleaguered people, Dod made every effort to block Amidala's pleas, claiming that there was no proof to back up her accusations. Before the Senate could do anything about the Naboo crisis, Amidala returned to the world and oversaw its liberation, disgracing the Trade Federation and its Neimoidian leaders.

Despite the scandal, Dod continued to represent the organization in the Senate, even during the Separatist Crisis that culminated with the Federation aligning with the breakaway Confederacy of Independent Systems. In the midst of the crisis, Dod was injured in a speeder accident, but this did not hamper his senatorial duties&mdash;the outspoken Neimoidian often participated in Senate debates from his recuperative ward at the Fobosi District Medcenter and ultimately recovered from the accident. When the Clone Wars erupted in 22 BBY, the Neimoidian Senator claimed that the Federation's resources were being co-opted without the approval of its governing board. Nevertheless, Dod's true allegiance was to the Federation and the Confederacy, not the Republic. In his palace on Cato Neimoidia, he conspired with fellow Senator Rush Clovis and Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser in Confederate dealings early on in the war, a plot uncovered by Senator Padmé Amidala&mdash;the former Naboo Queen.