Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Denver Democrats’ HD-7 Unity Dinner this Saturday night. Now, you might think there would be just a little tension when U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. – who once called for a natiowide moratorium on foreclosures – meets her host, Denver Democratic Chair Cynthia Lowery-Graber, who happens to be a foreclosure attorney.
In late 2010, Waters backed legislation (it later failed) that would have required attempts at loan modification before foreclosure could proceed, and would have diverted part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money to those facing foreclosure and “legal assistance”…
“These are people who have followed the American dream, and we have found that all kind of exotic products were put on the market, many of them were tricked into signing on the dotted line, and now we have whole communities that are being boarded up, that are in foreclosure, communities that are being driven into the ground, because cities can’t afford to keep them up.”
“The HAMP [Home Affordable Modification Program] program simply has not worked. We need to send a message, and a real, substantive message, to the people and the homeowners of America that we care about them, we don’t want them put on the street, we don’t want them losing their homes.”
“What’s wrong with using some of the TARP money for legal assistance? People are trying very hard to fight these battles alone.”
The next round of foreclosures that’s on the way offers a chance for attorneys like Lowery-Graber to clean up, and for Waters to advocate spending the public’s money defending against foreclosures! Seriously folks, isn’t it time we stopped arming both sides in the War on Housing?
[updated 6/22/12]
