Pelosi Endorses Laura Richardson

Speaker Pelosi stated, when asked about fellow California Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson's multiple home defaults, "every member of Congress is responsible for living up to the highest ethical standards."

Pelosi added, "Many people in our country are caught in the foreclosure crisis. Members of Congress maybe are as well."

Pelosi coached her answer by adding she was not familiar with the details of the controversy surrounding Richardson, but every lawmaker must make "the fullest disclosure of his or her assets as is required by law."

It turns out after the annual release of congressional disclosure reports, which offer a peek into House members' finances, Richardson listed no liabilities, although reports were already out that the former state assemblywoman had lost her Sacramento home to foreclosure and has two other homes in Southern California that have fallen into default six times.

Rep. Richardson is trying to get back the one that was sold at public auction. Real estate broker James York, paid cash for the deed and said he plans on hanging on to the house and would be surprised if Washington Mutual sues to get it back.

“I’m not too worried about it,” he said. “Once you get the deed, it’s pretty much a done deal.”

“It’s gonna be very, very hard - even if the sale itself was improper - to get the sale reversed,” said Richard Timan, an attorney who has handled similar cases. “People who don’t make payments are not beloved by judges.”

Steve Antler of Econopundit reports that;

"One of Cong. Richardson’s first votes after being sworn in, was to vote “aye” on a bill changing the IRS code so that bank forgiveness on a foreclosure sale was not taxable to the defaulter. That vote saved her income taxes on the difference between her indebtedness to WaMu ($585K), and the foreclosure sale price ($388K)."

On Congresswoman Richardson's official website at Congresswoman Laura Richardson
it says, "Speaker Pelosi has referred to Representative Richardson as bright, energetic, intelligent, and an asset to the committee chairs, caucuses and her constituents."

Why did Rep Richardson, like Sen Dodd, get a sweetheart deal on no money down, low interest mortgages for not one but 3 homes? She went from Local, State, to Federal positions within a year, so the only possible reason could be she is a Congresswoman, the same as Dodd is a Senator.

These are the people we have in Washington telling us how to run our personal affairs with honesty and integrity yet they cannot do the same.