Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member-designee for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote today to the incoming Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to request that the first hearing in the 112th Congress examine recent and continuing reports of widespread flawed and fraudulent foreclosure practices by the nation’s largest banks.
Cummings’ request comes in light of reports of widespread fraud in legal proceedings, as well as recent lawsuits filed by the state attorneys general of Arizona and Nevada alleging potential fraud by at least one bank against homeowners, thereby undermining existing consent decrees between the banks and the states and possibly violating state laws.
“Since September 2010, ongoing reports have revealed the widespread utilization of flawed and fraudulent practices, most notably ‘robo-signing,’ throughout the mortgage servicing industry,” the letter reads, in part. “These revelations prompted the nation’s largest mortgage servicers to halt foreclosures in 23 states and conduct internal reviews, and also led all 50 state attorneys general to initiate a joint investigation into these practices.
“Recent reports demonstrate that the problems have not subsided and may be more egregious and widespread than initially revealed. [Monday], the Chief Justice of New Jersey’s highest court announced that the state’s courts would stop foreclosures if the banks cannot show that they are following state law when foreclosing. On December 17, the attorneys general of Arizona and Nevada filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, accusing it of engaging in ‘widespread fraud’ by misleading customers with ‘false promises’ about their eligibility for modifications on their home mortgages.”
Cummings requested a hearing in part to examine the veracity of these reports and the extent to which existing government programs and provisions of public support are being undermined or abused.
Cummings’ letter follows a recent statement given by Congressman Issa in which he said, “The intention is to have our first couple of hearings be those bipartisan issues we were already working on.”
Cummings applauds the incoming Chairman’s commitment to working across the aisle to help protect Americans, and looks forward to working with Congressman Issa to help keep more Americans in their homes on the path toward their American Dream.
Tune in this afternoon at 5:00pm to hear Congressman Elijah Cummings appear on The Marc Steiner Show on WEAA 88.9 FM. You can join the discussion by calling or e-mailing 410.319.8888 or steinershow@gmail.com.
In 2002, Bob Ehrlich’s campaign distributed a misleading brochure at predominantly African American voting precincts that included a picture of Bob Ehrlich, Congressman Elijah Cummings and other notable African American leaders along with the caption: “Democrats for Ehrlich.” As Congressman Cummings made clear yesterday, he did not support Bob Ehrlich.
In 2006, Bob Ehrlich’s campaign bused homeless people from Philadelphia on Election Day to distribute fliers designed to mislead African American Democratic voters into voting for him by falsely suggesting that Ehrlich was backed by prominent African American Democratic leaders.
In a video taken on Election Day 2006, two men, wearing Steele t-shirts and Ehrlich baseball caps, show the false literature that they were paid to distribute. When asked where he is from, one of the men reveals that they were bused into Maryland from Philadelphia.
In a blog post on Monday, October 18th, former Ehrlich aide Joe Steffen writes:
Hell, everyone knew that scheme was perpetrated by Team Ehrlich before the last vote in the 2006 O’Malley victory was even counted.
Yesterday, Maryland Democrats warned voters about the Bob Ehrlich campaign’s history of election day dirty tricks.
Today, we’re calling on Bob Ehrlich to come clean about his campaign’s dirty tricks. Despite the many news reports of Bob Ehrlich’s campaign busing homeless people from Philadelphia and distributing false and misleading campaign fliers with his campaign’s authority line, Bob Ehrlich has yet to admit what he has done.
There is 1 day until early voting starts and 12 days until the election. It’s time for Bob Ehrlich to come clean.
