John Edwards: “Predatory lending” beneficiary?
Welcome to John Edwards’ America, a land where Democrat presidential candidates demonize the businesses that made them rich. Via the WSJ today, a fresh look at silky hypocrisy. Headline: “Edwards, Foreclosure Critic, Has Investing Tie to Subprime Lenders:”
As a presidential candidate, Democrat John Edwards has regularly attacked subprime lenders, particularly those that have filed foreclosure suits against victims of Hurricane Katrina. But as an investor, Mr. Edwards has ties to lenders foreclosing on Katrina victims.
The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through 2006.
Asked about the matter, Mr. Edwards yesterday pledged that he would personally provide financial assistance to New Orleanians who are facing foreclosure by Fortress-affiliated businesses or have lost their homes already. “I intend to help these people,” the former North Carolina senator said.
He also promised to cleanse his portfolio of any investments that may be profiting from their losses. “I am going to divest” from any Fortress funds that have a stake in the subprime lenders that filed the foreclosures, he said in a telephone interview. “I will not have my family’s money invested in these firms.”
Such a man of belated principle is he.
Mr. Edwards didn’t give details on how or when he was going to proceed, either to alter his holdings or to aid borrowers. He said he plans to begin making amends to New Orleans homeowners first by contacting them and “seeing where they are in the process.” He said his help may come from his own cash or in collaboration with a charity that specializes in repairing homes. The foreclosures, Mr. Edwards said, “run counter to what I’m about.”
On the campaign trail, Mr. Edwards has particularly attacked lenders behind foreclosures in storm-slammed Louisiana. In April, he visited the devastated Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood to voice one of his main antipoverty planks: a proposal to rein in subprime-mortgage companies whose “shameful lending practices,” he said, threaten millions of working-class homeowners. “While Washington turns a blind eye, irresponsible lenders are pulling a fast one on hard-working homeowners,” Mr. Edwards said a few days later.
At the time in late 2005 when Mr. Edwards went to work for Fortress, it already had a stake in one subprime lender that subsequently foreclosed on some Katrina victims, Green Tree Servicing LLC. While he was there, Fortress acquired a second, Nationstar Mortgage LLC. Fortress paid Mr. Edwards $479,512 in 2006 for part-time work, a Federal Election Commission report in May showed.
After leaving the firm, he kept about half of his net worth in Fortress funds. And Fortress employees have collectively made up the largest class of political contributors to Mr. Edwards. Workers there put up more than $150,000 toward his presidential run in the first six months of the year.
The WaPo asked Edwards about Fortress in May. He says he was clueless. Yeah:
The hedge fund that employed John Edwards markedly expanded its subprime lending business while he worked there, becoming a major player in the high-risk mortgage sector Edwards has pilloried in his presidential campaign.
Edwards said yesterday that he was unaware of the push by the firm, Fortress Investment Group, into subprime lending and that he wishes he had asked more questions before taking the job. The former senator from North Carolina said he had asked Fortress officials whether it was involved in predatory lending practices before taking the job in 2005 and was assured it was not.
And besides, when Edwards is involved with it, it isn’t “predatory lending,” you see. It’s called helping the poor, of course! Spin, spin, spin those Two Americas, Johnny Boy. More from the WSJ:
Edwards aides, while apologetic for the foreclosures, defended subprime lending in general. They pointed out the distinctions between subprime loans, which are extended to people with less-than-stellar credit, and “predatory” loans, which often target the same consumers but employ pressure sales tactics and punitive covenants that can strip equity from home buyers and tie them to onerous payments. Subprime loans, defenders note, can benefit many lower-income people previously locked out of home ownership.
Mortgage experts say there’s no clear line dividing standard subprime loans from “predatory” ones. Generally speaking, said Thomas Lawler, a former official at mortgage buyer Fannie Mae, predatory loans carry high interest rates that are allowed to rise but not drop. They may be loaded with prepaid fees. Lenders may make monthly payments look smaller than they really are by not requiring borrowers to put taxes and insurance in escrow. And the loans generally don’t allow early payoff without a steep penalty. That bars refinancing if interest rates drop.
Maybe someone should organize a “poverty tour” of those 34 homes in New Orleans whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress. They can rename the neighborhood “Edwardsville.”
***
Have a chuckle. Read John Edwards’ campaign page on “fighting predatory mortgages.”
Betsy Newmark weighs in:
I still think that there is something suspect about this nothingburger of a job that Edwards had there at Fortress. He earned close to half a million dollars for a 15-month stint working at Fortress to study the relationship of capital and poverty, but seemed to miss the whole involvement of his employer with subprime lending. If you or I wanted to study poverty and capital, we’d probably have to go to a university and do some research. Giving a job for someone to do some study while on the job just doesn’t rate a six-figure salary for anyone besides a potential presidential candidate. It seems yet another way to get around the campaign finance laws.
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- This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » Edwards profited from Katrina forclosures
- Keith Burgess-Jackson » Politics
- Edwards: a glib statistical illiterate on poverty : thought cops
- Oh, what a tangled web Edwards weaves | BitsBlog
- Which America, John? « Nate Nelson
- This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » Democrat feud; DLC vs. Kos
- SingleMind: Fighting Stupidity One Idiot at a Time! » Much Ado About Nothing
- Edwards - “Prime” Real Estate Profits « Waste Of My Oxygen
- Neocon News » That smell? Why it's John Edwards!
- Michelle Malkin » SC Democrat debate: Punch, Judy, and Silky; Update Squabbling, mud-slinging, the gloves are off!
- August, 2007 Archive « Right Minded Online
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One would “think” that after so many untruths that he pack up and go home to his castle.
He just keeps on churning out those mistruths.
Simply Amazing. He must be delusional.
He is the most disgustingly disingenuous politician I think I have ever seen in my lifetime.
Seriously, the guy’s a sociopath. He has zero issue with giving statements that are bold-faced lies. He has to know when he gives answers like “You’ll never see me on the cover of Fortune”, and then having Huffington find a pic from a mere 5 years ago of him speaking to a croud from behind a podium that says “Fortune” on it.
Pretty soon he’ll be telling us the sky isn’t blue. He just can’t help it, I don’t think…
And once again - where is the MSM reporting on this blatant hypocracy?
If this were Fred Thompson, Rudy, Mitt or GWB or Cheney, this would be fodder for every newspaper and CNN & MSNBC hack.
Yet, Edwards is allowed to lie right to the American people - blatantly mislead the American voter - and there’s not one peep about it ( other than here and WSJ ).
Thank you WSJ and thank you Michelle.
Anyone know where I could get a part-time job that pays $479,000 a year?
Please post leads below.
Thanks,
Mike
Yer too greedy Mike…
I’ll do the same work for $250K a year. You don’t need to provide any benifits, I will aquire my own health/dental/eye coverage, in adition to provide my own retirement fund. I will not require matching contributions…
Wow. If Edwards were a Republican he would be getting ripped apart for this!
Good thing to say silky. It shows that you’re presidential material in the Clinton mold. What’s amazing is that he says something like this, but can easily get away with attacking Bush on Iraq.
Remember all the hoots and hollers about how GWB won’t do anything that effects the oil companies because he’s an ‘oil man’.
Where’s the same chatter about how Edwards won’t do anything that effects these businesses due to his affiliation with them?
That’s absurd, of course there’s a clear line.
If a populist democrat is involved it’s standard, if a republican does it it’s predatory.
One $$$ trail I’d like to see is the Billions sent to the New Orleans area.
as far as part time jobs, the minimum for the NFL is probly right around that much, and the rest of the time you could play with you’re Puppies…
Well, the WSJ and Washington Post are as MSM as it gets.
And it’s “hypocrisy.”
I love to repeat this: NC did NOT re-elect John Edwards to the Senate. He’s an empty suit.
Hard to imagine how much longer the MSM will carry water for Teflon John.
The rank hypocrisy would have buried any Republican long ago.
He asked? What did he think they would say, “yes we are predatory lenders“?
Edwards: “Are you preditory lenders?”
Folks from Fortress: “You bet yer sweet, sweet ass we are. Look! *points* Piles of money!”
E: *zones out, comes around* “I’m sorry, I seem to have been distracted by a large amount of lovely, life-giving money.” *rubs a handful of hundred dollar bills over his face and neck* “Did you say something?”
FfF: “Nope. Didn’t say a thing…”
Seems perfectly logical to me. Now he can promise a tax payer bailout to save his investment money……conflict of interest here??
HAHAHAHAHA! Fix predatory lending practices by becoming a predatory lender.
I’m amazed that ANYONE at all still considers this man credible. Um, but you need to be careful MM, he’s going to use your blog to claim ‘conspiracy from MM to shut him up’ so that he can raise more money.
Um, this is Edwards’ MO. Spell it how you want (I’m sure spelling is a pet peave of yours), but Edwards is the definition of hypocrisy.
He’s going to fix the health care system that his life’s work destroyed (suing doctors) by controlling the system. I drove by his house just last Saturday. The next door neighbor still has his “Go Rudy, 2008″ sign in front of his driveway.
This guy is a J-O-K-E. Um, I don’t understand why any media outlet still considers him credible as a ‘public servant’. I guess if he’s unemployed he has to do something.
Edwards, Hillary, Obama. Sigh. If just one of the so called conservatives running for POTUS acted like the adult in the room, this thing would be over before it started. I mean, those three guys are beyond a joke…
When I saw this this morning on the Fox News crawl it stated something about more hypocrisy by this clown. He never ceases to amaze me.
I also don’t understand why he’s still considered “top tier”.
He’s an absolute idiot if he believes this Fortress crowd would actually say they’re bad lenders. Meanwhile he’s standing there with his paws out collecting their dough off the backs of the poor, non savy mortgage seeking, downtrodden who can’t defend themselves from the likes of Fortress (sarc off). He will be sending that money back right?
It is obvious that every one of you lives in the “second America” therefore, you cannot understand anybody who lives in the “first America”.
The only reason why Edwards is still a “top-tier candidate,” despite polling at the same level as John “dead in the water” McCain, is because the MSM wants to pretend that Hilary isn’t a shoe in. We really ought to start ignoring the silky one and focus on Hildog exclusively. She’s got to be loving the fact that we’re too distracted with Edwards’ sillyness to point out ALL of her flaws and do more research on her past.
How can people still believe in this guy? #2 America had better wake up before #1 America ruins lives all around. What happened to taking care of ones own business instead of relying on “fakes’ like Edwards and his wife. She is as rude as he is and I hope that people discuss her illness too. No protection for her. She made her bed and now she has to sleep in it.
I think she had someone make her bed for her, someone in America #2 who’s still asking the Edwards’ for health insurance.
Truth be told, the genuine Edwards story would do more to help people in poverty then his phony man-o-the-people act.
Look at what we have learned about him. He acts in his own financial best interest. He invests his assets and time to maximize return. He worked hard to obtain an education, avoided the pitfalls of drugs and alcohol that derail the dreams of so many who start life in poverty. He kept his family together, and took responsibility for his own success. Isn’t that the conservative template for how to rise out of poverty?
Of course, if he preaches that from the stump, they’ll throw him out of the Democratic Party.
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I feel sorry for Edwards though.
He’s getting scalded every day while Hillary seals her records.
“Well, the WSJ and Washington Post are as MSM as it gets.”
True enough Michelle - but I was speaking of even greater coverage, as we all know there would be if this were a GOP candidate.
CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, NYT, etc…
I credit those who have enlighted us, but many of the others would rather re-hash the ‘hypocracy’ of Mitt & Rudy’s pro / anti abortion stances, Fred’s lobbying, and family members who disagree with their relative’s candidacies.
The Edwards’ are just strange.
Exactly. All of these calls for a bailout are just to save the butts of the hedge fund types like Forrest Investments and their investors who stand to get burned for their stupid, shortsighted investment decisions.
No bailout, let ‘em fall on their faces as far as I’m concerned.
Does anyone pay attention to Edwards anymore except for the entertainment value? Hillary’s stomping him in the polls by what, 30 points now?
I’ve said it before: the problem with being mentally lazy is the temptation to believe that others are just as lazy as you are. I doubt that Edwards thought for a moment that anyone would work up the energy to do some digging on his background in this matter.
He was half right: anyone still supporting his presidential fantasies probably doesn’t know, and doesn’t care.
Hey Michelle, that kid who said “Look mommy - the Emperor has no clothes!” was you, wasn’t it?
First thought that came to my mind, ThackerAgency, but you beat me to it.
“Predatory lending” Is than anything like “Predatory Lawsuits”. Edwards is a hypocrite who needs to go back to his million dollar home and keep his mouth shut. Thank God the people of NC refused to send him back to the senate.
Does anyone think that slimy shyster really has a chance?…he’s a worm with arms…hey…what does Edwards (a lawyer) and a spermatozoa have in commmon?…
they both have about one chance in a million of becoming a human being….
This guy is the Al Sharpton of North Carolina. He does it so effortlessly. I would admire his talents if I was not so revolted by it.
I also wonder what happened to his positive campaign.
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/inside-the-edwards-campaign-aka-the-flat-earth-society/
http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/al-sharpton-colon-cancer-and-other-pains-in-the-rumpus/
I suspect Al Sharpton will hire John
Edwards to represent that woman basketball player that nobody cares about in her quest to get money from Imus.
If Edwards truly wanted to benefit society (doubtful), he would help me a file a class action suit against the Social Security Administration so I can get back the money taken out of my paycheck for that worthless pyramid scheme.
Worthless scheme…sounds like the Edwards campaign to a T.
Respectfully,
eric
His efforts to ignite the “angry poor” are just appalling. Yes let us just give away our money to those who are living off the Government sow. He is and always will be a rich white lawyer who wants power.
Now stick that in your foreclosure and smoke it Johnny boy.
Michelle, I love it, Hypocrisy Fridays. Wasn’t Edwards also last Fiday’s Poster Boy for Hypocrisy?
I think he has room in his house to take in all 34 families who are losing their homes.
John - “How long are you going to be in the bathroom, I need to brush my hair?”
Elizabeth - “Now John, there are 34 families ahead of you.”
John - “But I’m First America, they’re only Second America.”
This story should be brought directly to the people involved, those that lost their homes in Katrina, and who are being taken in by this hypocrisy.
Also, all the msm, including CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR, local affiliates, and print media should be bombarded by the public, demanding to know why this story, and so many others that they deliberately avoid, are not being reported to the public.
Journalism has sunk to an all time low, and we need to remind them to do their jobs instead of following personal political agendas.
NPR broke the code of omerta this Saturday morning about Edwards’ $16 million investment in sub-prime mortgages. They played it straight too, withholding the usual Dem-life-preserver, in this case the BS about “divesting” and “helping those people”, and just hitting how the facts contrast with the candidate’s projected image as savior of the poor.
When the MSM starts reporting on a Dem without the soft halo vignetting you know its time for the cull.