Free Republic

<p>IF YOU ENJOYED the election crisis of 2000, you’re going to love what Democrat leaders are cooking up for November.</p> <p>"George Soros has purchased the Democratic Party," charges Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson. (2) Some might dismiss Miss Iverson's comment as hyberbole. However, Soros' massive soft-money contributions have indisputably given him power over Democrat strategy.</p>

A handful of House Republicans did their best on Tuesday to shame Democrats and the Obama administration for its supposed connections to the controversial anti-poverty group ACORN. Republicans also voiced complaints that Democrats are not moving forward with investigations into the organization that is alleged to have committed widespread voter fraud to support Democratic candidates, in violation of the group's tax-exempt status. "ACORN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said at Tuesday's two-hour long partisan forum attended by eight Republicans but no Democrats. Another source of frustration for Republicans is a legal decision from...

The public release of an independent actuarial study of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was delayed late Tuesday as the firm conducting the review completes additional tests. The supplemental tests come after FHA questioned the accuracy of the actuary’s modeling. The audit of FHA’s fiscal year 2009 — which ended in September — was scheduled for release today in conjunction with a press conference addressing the FHA’s fiscal health and financial outlook. A US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokeswoman indicated hours before the scheduled release that the report would not be completed in time, and FHA commissioner...

"These ideals, when voiced by generations of citizens, are what made it possible for me to stand here today. These ideals are what made it possible for the people in this room to live freely and openly when for most of history that would have been inconceivable. That is the promise of America. That is the promise we are called to fulfill. And day by day, law by law, mind by changing mind, that is the promise we are fulfilling." – President Obama, HRC National Dinner, October 10, 2009 I came to work in the White House because I thought...

If you live in Westchester County, get ready for public housing and higher taxes at a town near you. County residents will be forced to pay the price for the fraudulent actions of County Executive Andrew Spano, who was caught red handed in an embarrassing scheme that defrauded the Federal government of $180 million. In February 2009, a Federal Court Judge found Westchester County an “utter failure” when it comes to access to fair housing and that Westchester County provided “false or fraudulent” documentation to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) amounting to racial discrimination. After six months...

Evidence continues to accumulate from far and wide that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is lousy with corruption. The latest revelations come from Louisiana and Oklahoma. In the former, the local ACORN Housing Corp. office received contracts worth a combined $625,000 from the City of New Orleans for repairing existing low-income housing and developing new units in poor neighborhoods. The contracts were paid for with funds from federal Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. An investigation by the Pelican Institute think tank of New Orleans, however, found that no work...

“But whether you try to implement some or all of these recommendations, there must be someone committed to follow-up. There must be a review mechanism, and a means of holding people accountable after any final decisions are made. If you do not make some hard choices now and ensure they are carried out, they almost certainly will be made for you.” –Elizabeth Kingsley of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg Eisenberg LLP, in a prophetic legal memo to ACORN dated June 19, 2008, the day before ACORN’s national board ousted ACORN founder organizer Wade Rathke ACORN’s lawyer warned ACORN 15 months ago to...

Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit against HUD to Obtain ACORN Documents Seeks Records Related to HUD's Taxpayer Support of Controversial Community Organization Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188 WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to obtain records related to federal grants provided to the controversial "community organization" Association for Community Reform Now (ACORN). Judicial Watch filed its original Freedom of Information Act request on July 17. HUD...

The story in a nutshell: Bertha Lewis is the CEO of ACORN. In a review of Lewis’s contacts list, which was leaked to RedState, Bertha Lewis has the office, cell phone, home number, and private personal email address of Patrick Gaspard. Patrick Gaspard holds Karl Rove’s position in the White House and was Obama’s Political Director during the campaign. In addition to Patrick, Bertha has Patrick’s brother Michael in her rolodex. She lists Michael as working at the Advance Group. The Advance Group is ACORN’s lobbying organization. In other words, besides having Obama’s political director’s contact info, the political director’s...

ACORN, a social justice organization with roots in [New Orleans], battles a string of scandals. The announcement stuck to a wall outside the entrance to ACORN's local office in the 2600 block of Canal Street quietly signals the trouble afoot. In English and Spanish, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now tells walk-up clients that ACORN's housing office has shut itself down for two weeks to immerse itself "in an intensive training program." The sign is a symptom of a tumultuous week in the history of a controversial poor people's social justice movement -- one founded by a New...

An ACORN affiliate has just submitted applications for over $6 million in government funding, despite the controversial videos of the organization’s workers aiding a child prostitution “promoter.” Employees with the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) in Washington D.C., Baltimore and Brooklyn told uncover investigators posing as a pimp and a prostitute how they could circumvent the law. ACORN has already fired four of the workers. But it claims the tapes have been “doctored” and “edited.” A third video implicating the ACORN workers was released today. Meanwhile, the ACORN Institute, one of many ACORN affiliates, has applied for...

September 15, 2009 Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking Republican on the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, today wrote to committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Inspector General, Kenneth Donohue, calling for an immediate and thorough investigation into the activities of the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Shelby’s call for an investigation follows recent news reports surrounding the arrest of individuals in Florida for falsifying voter applications while employed by ACORN leading up to the 2008 elections, as well as video of employees in...

Conservatives have cheered the Census Bureau's decision to sever ties with ACORN because it had lost confidence in the group, but the hidden-camera videos that prompted ACORN to fire four workers this week could raise more questions about the federal funding ACORN receives for housing outreach....

Conservatives have cheered the Census Bureau's decision to sever ties with ACORN because it had lost confidence in the group, but the hidden-camera videos that prompted ACORN to fire four workers this week could raise more questions about the federal funding ACORN receives for housing outreach. ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants. The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as...

Barney Frank wants Cabinet post By Bob Cusack - 09/07/09 05:07 PM ET Rep. Barney Frank is interested in capping his political career as a member of the president’s Cabinet, according to a new biography of the Financial Services Committee chairman. Frank (D-Mass.) told author Stuart Weisberg that he would like to be Housing and Urban Development secretary. However, the 69-year-old lawmaker stresses that his departure from Congress is not imminent. He first wants to pass more legislation on affordable housing, saying, “I want at least two years with President Obama and a solidly Democratic Senate so that we can...

THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG MONDAY, AUGUST 31ST, 2009 AT 6:13 PM Green Impact Zone Posted by Adolfo Carrión, Jr. We have just arrived in Kansas City where, tomorrow, we will continue our discussion of smart growth and smart planning for America’s metropolitan areas. Special Assistant to the President on Urban Policy Derek Douglas, Special Advisor for Green Jobs Van Jones, and I will be joined by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Transportation Deputy Secretary John Porcari. Together, we will meet with local elected officials, stakeholders, and community members to discuss the development of the Green Impact Zone, an...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration, in a major shift on housing policy, is abandoning George W. Bush’s vision of creating an “ownership society’’ and instead plans to pump $4.25 billion of economic stimulus money into creating tens of thousands of federally subsidized rental units in American cities. The idea is to pay for the construction of low-rise rental apartment buildings and town houses, as well as the purchase of foreclosed homes that can be refurbished and rented to low- and moderate-income families at affordable rates.

In June we got peek at Obama’s plans to destroy America’s white middle class suburbs. Now we have new evidence Obama is using race to turn America into the socialist gulag in his dreams for America. The first plan unveiled the idea of the federal government demolishing large sections of Flint Michigan and Detroit and relocating their residents to middle class suburbs. Today comes another plan to flood traditional Republican suburbs with exactly the people these middle class Americans moved away from. No place to run The Department of Housing and Urban Development has been changed into the Department of...

HIGH POINT -- Residents of a local public housing facility recently had to cease holding religious services there after officials told them the activities ran afoul of federal regulations. Worship services by residents of Elm Towers were in violation of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rules, which forbid "inherently religious activities" for organizations that receive HUD funds, according to the High Point Housing Authority. Elm Towers residents had been gathering for years on Sunday mornings and sometimes Wednesday evenings for Christian worship services led by a local minister in a common room on the first floor of the...

Question: Is it true that the government is considering a plan that would reimburse new-home buyers if the value of their property declines later? Answer: One of the biggest supporters of such a plan is Joe Hanauer, who rose to fame while heading one of the largest real estate outfits in Chicago and now serves as chairman of Move Inc., which operates Internet realty giant Move.comHanauer has already met with several congressional representatives and officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to "sell" them on the proposal, which he believes could help jump-start the housing market by...

Housing authority eyes potential federal budget cutUpdated 07/06/2009 06:29 PM By: Ed Scannell WINSTON-SALEM – A potential cut in federal funding to the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem is threatening to put hundreds of families out on the street. It's a scenario being played out in communities across the country. The head of the authority was hopeful the Department of Housing and Urban Development would come up with money for the vouchers the families use to help pay their monthly rent. HUD told the authority to use its $3 million in reserves to cover the cost of housing vouchers to some...

As I told the Washington Examiner a few hours ago after reviewing the Obama stimulus bill and the proposed fiscal 2010 budget for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), ACORN and other left-wing advocacy groups could have a shot at pocketing up to $8.5 billion this year. Here's how I arrived at the $8.5 billion figure. The $800 billion-plus stimulus bill, which is now formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 or Public Law 111-5, originally set aside $5.2 billion that could flow directly or indirectly into the coffers of ACORN and its...

After a lifetime of public service and a painful illness, Jack Kemp has died. Our prayers are with his family.

President Barack Obama has settled on a train-wreck of a nominee for Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). On Tuesday, the Senate, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee approved Ronald Sims in a voice vote. They did so despite having credible information indicating financial mismanagement and ethical transgressions, including two egregious abuses of a state freedom of information law. Sims has been King County Executive in Washington state since 1996. Under his watch, local government was fined after it failed to produce documents concerning construction of the Qwest sports stadium. The Supreme Court of Washington, in a blistering ruling...

If you need a shining example of the utter disingenuousness of Barack Obama's commitment to government transparency, I have two words for you: Ron Sims. This lifelong political hack is to transparency what sunlight is to Dracula, what salt is to a slug, what kryptonite is to Superman, what "The View" is to intelligent debate. That is: lethal. In its press release announcing the nomination of the Seattle-area county executive to the No. 2 post at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the White House described Sims as a "visionary urban leader." The White House also touted Sims'...

In an interview with Parade Magazine, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said the most remarkable thing about climate change. As head of HUD, is climate change really your problem? We need to stop thinking in the traditional silos, the way the federal government usually thinks. We've got to stop thinking about programs and start thinking about places and how they work. The way we plan our cities, towns, and rural areas needs to change.

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-014.cfm www.hud.gov/news/ For Release Wednesday February 25, 2009 HUD ALLOCATES MORE THAN $10 BILLION OF RECOVERY ACT FUNDING ONE WEEK AFTER BILL SIGNING Nearly 75 percent of HUD Recovery funds allocated today WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today allocated nearly 75 percent of its funding, or $10.1 billion, made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Recovery Act includes $13.61 billion for projects and programs administered by HUD, 75 percent of which was allocated to recipients today - only one week after President...

The Obama administration's efforts to help struggling homeowners will aid "responsible" borrowers, not deadbeats or speculators, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said Sunday. President Barack Obama announced the plan Wednesday, saying it will help up to 9 million people keep their homes in a housing market ravaged by foreclosures. But critics, including several leading Republicans and some commentators, said the $75 billion proposal will unfairly help some people at the expense of others. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs acknowledged Friday that some people who made "bad decisions" might end up getting help under the proposal. But Donovan, Obama's secretary of housing...

African Americans and other minorities seeking mortgages in the Twin Cities have some of the highest home loan rejection rates in the country. A new study by the Institute on Race and Poverty also finds high income minorities in the Twin Cities are turned down for home loans more often than whites with much lower incomes.

"Where is the Money?" Where is the Outrage?? by: Tom McClusky The Washington Post today has an article on how protestors are currently in Washington to protest that the federal government isn't providing the victims enough money (presumably because they believe President Bush created the storm with his weather controlling machine.)  The Post article certainly romanticizes the protestors: "They came to Washington yesterday from temporary housing, from apartments in Houston, hotel rooms in Dallas and spare bedrooms in cousins' homes. They came to say that the only place they really want to go is home."  What the Post fails to mention is...

Subpoena Name: Andrew Cuomo, New York State Attorney General Address: The Capitol; Albany, NY 12224-0341 Whereas, the Defendant was formerly the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) between 1997 and 2001. And, Andrew Cuomo is currently being considered for appointment to the United States State Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. Offered to support, simply, that promoting the complicit promotes complicity: EXHIBIT SUPERIOR COURT OF the people of NEW YORK CHICANERY DIVISION - SATIRE PART BROOKLYN COUNTY DOCKET NO.: I don’t own a boat. Name: People of New York - Plaintiff Vs. Name: Andrew Cuomo, New York State...

Subprime Crisis: The media have pounded President Bush for a wave of Hispanic home foreclosures. But it was Democrats who launched a drive to loosen credit for Hispanics — many of them illegals.Democrats and their advocacy groups also prodded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the high-risk NINJA (no income, no job, no assets) loans they'd pressured banks to make to Hispanic immigrants. Now immigrants are defaulting on subprime mortgages in droves, adding to the toxic debt that is poisoning the financial industry. Yes, Bush was "eager," as the Washington Post described it, to put more Hispanic families into...

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Missouri) announced he will not be seeking reelection, a Washington Post blog reports. As far as conservatives are concerned, this could be a good thing. Bond is an ardent Big Government supporter who for years has refused to back any fiscal restraint at the useless Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). When Republicans had a majority in the Senate, Bond consistently defended his turf as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's panel on HUD. Every oversight hearing he would chastise whoever was HUD secretary for not wanting to flush more taxpayer dollars down the toilet. Hasta...

When Fairway Oaks was developed eight years ago, it was praised by HUD Secretary Mel Martinez as "an excellent example of the public sector and private sectors working together to develop decent and affordable housing," said Martinez. "'Sweat equity' programs, like Habitat for Humanity, help more and more low-income families open the door to homeownership." Sweat equity. Right. Now Habitat for Humanity, the "darling of liberal social activists," is being sued for sloppiness and a reckless disregard for the consequences of building on top of uncompressed garbage. 85 residents, dissatisfied at the quality of their free lodgings paid for by...

Throughout her tenure as Assistant Secretary, HUD credits Ms.Kendrick with streamlining the complaint intake process, reducing the complaint process time, and obtaining significant relief in discrimination cases settled by HUD. Moreover, Ms. Kendrick has charged more Secretary-initiated investigations in 2007 than those launched in the past 10 years. Now, if Kendrick has initiated more investigations in 2007 than the LAST 10 YEARS COMBINED, then one of two things is happening. Either her predecessors were very incompetent or her investigations go far beyond what HUD investigations should go.

THE national wave of home foreclosures, many concentrated in lower-income and minority neighborhoods, has created a strong temptation to find the villains responsible. ... There’s little doubt that the rating agencies helped inflate the housing bubble. But when we round up all the culprits, we shouldn’t ignore the regulators and affordable-housing advocates who pushed lenders to make loans in low-income neighborhoods for reasons other than the only one that makes sense: likely repayment. ... The Community Reinvestment Act was passed in 1977 when bank competition was sharply limited by law and lenders had little incentive to seek out business in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will loosen terms of its foreclosure-prevention effort so that the program, meant to backstop $300 billion in home loans, can be more effective, the agency said on Wednesday. The Hope for Homeowners program will now insure home loans that have had as little as 3.5 percent of their value erased by the original lender. Under the original terms, a lender would have to write off 10 percent of a failing loan before the government would invest. Investors who hold a stake in failing loans through second liens may receive...

As we thankfully near the end of the Nagin administration, everything seems to be falling apart at City Hall. Therefore, it is interesting that there are sources reporting this morning that Ray Nagin is being considered for the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the new Obama administration. According to one leading Democrat, Nagin is on the short list for the job because of “his experience leading New Orleans during the post-Katrina period.” While there has been significant rebuilding in New Orleans including a major revitalization of the public housing developments in the past three year, there...

It’s a given that in a slumping market home prices are going to decline. But $1 for a house intown? Apparently, even the huge U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can grow exasperated trying to sell a single home. So sometimes it dangles the offer of a buck. The catch —- there’s always a catch —- is that the buyer must be a local government wanting to create affordable housing. “Hey, I got this house for $1. Call the I.G.,” joked Stephanie Parker, a senior single-family housing specialist with HUD who was showing a dollar home on Sims Street...

Honorable Rahm Emanuel U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Hearing on FY2004 HUD Budget March 5, 2003 I’d like to thank Chairman Oxley for holding this important hearing on the Fiscal Year 2004 HUD budget. I also appreciate that our distinguished guest, HUD Secretary Mel Martinez, has taken the time to share his views with us on this topic. Before my election to Congress, I was fortunate to serve as Vice-Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority and as a Freddie Mac Board member. In those capacities, I saw firsthand the teamwork between public and private entities that’s required...

SAN ANTONIO — A grandson of Mexican immigrants and this city’s first Hispanic mayor, Henry G. Cisneros has spent years trying to make the dream of homeownership come true for low-income families. As the Clinton administration’s top housing official in the mid-1990s, Mr. Cisneros loosened mortgage restrictions so first-time buyers could qualify for loans they could never get before. Then, capitalizing on a housing expansion he helped unleash, he joined the boards of a major builder, KB Home, and the largest mortgage lender in the nation, Countrywide Financial — two companies that rode the housing boom, drawing criticism along the...

For those who want a smoking gun to show the genesis of the financial collapse, this short sequence from a longer video I posted this week will do it. Clinton HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced a settlement of a lending discrimination complaint with Accubanc, a Texas lender whose prerequisites for mortgages came under attack from “community organizers” at the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission and the city of Dallas. I clipped out this sequence to underscore its importance: (video at link) CUOMO: To take a greater risk on these mortgages, yes. To give families mortgages that they would not have...

A retired agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that five million illegal immigrants nationwide may hold home mortgages. Earlier this week, we posted a story that said figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that home mortgages were held by 5 million illegal immigrants and that this may have contributed, in part, to the housing crisis that has led to the recent failure in the financial markets. Our source for that story, a retired agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, stands by those numbers. A person from Housing and Urban Development contacted KFYI to tell us...

A single report by KFYI radio of Phoenix, Arizona highlights a shocking claim made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD says that five million illegal aliens hold illegal mortgages. This is just one more example of the lax lending laws put into place by Democrats like Barney Frank that have contributed to this economic crisis. One would think this would be big news. But, so far we have only this one report to cover it. There have been earlier stories of home flipping schemes that made liberal use of illegal aliens as straw buyers and the...

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development says there is no basis to news reports that more than 5 million bad mortgages are held by illegal immigrants. A HUD spokesman said Thursday his agency has no data showing the number of illegal immigrants holding foreclosed or bad mortgages. But news reports, including one aired on KFYI-AM 550 in Phoenix, cite HUD as a source for the illegal immigrant mortgage number. The widely read “Drudge Report” posted a link to the KFYI report, but as of Thursday afternoon the link no longer connected to the story. Anti-immigration groups point to...

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt. Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona. The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification. As a result, illegal immigrants...

  Assault on the mortgage lenders: in the name of racial justice, the Clintonites want the power to decide who gets a home of his own - efforts to impose regulations on banks to make loans even if applicants are not creditworthy Robert Stowe England QUIETLY, behind the scenes, the Clinton Administration is preparing for the biggest regulatory crackdown of recent years. Attorney General Janet Reno is linking up with banking regulators and with HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros to end the supposed epidemic of discrimination against minorities in making home loans. The implications for society at large are ominous. Here,...

““SEC. 1338. Housing Trust Fund. “(a) Establishment and purpose.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’) shall establish and manage a Housing Trust Fund, which shall be funded with amounts allocated by the enterprises under section 1337 and any amounts as are or may be appropriated, transferred, or credited to such Housing Trust Fund under any other provisions of law. The purpose of the Housing Trust Fund under this section is to provide grants to States for use— “(1) to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and...

The federal government is sending nearly $70-million in emergency housing assistance to the Tampa Bay area to help local governments with the growing foreclosure crisis. The money will be used to buy homes emptied by foreclosures to protect neighborhoods from blight. They will be sold and the proceeds used to buy more. Pasco County got one of the largest amounts in the country, and Tampa and St. Petersburg got more than they expected. Hernando County, which has one of the worst foreclosure rates in Florida, gets nothing because it has less than 200,000 residents. The money comes from the $3.92-billion...

Steve Preston, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Friday announced an allocation of $3.92 billion to help states respond to the foreclosure crisis. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program will provide emergency assistance to state and local governments to help them acquire and redevelop foreclosed property that might otherwise become a source of abandonment and blight. The state of Louisiana will receive a total of $34.2 million, while New Orleans will receive $2.3 million. Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for the federal agency, said states would have to present plans for how to spend the money once HUD...