Posted on 08/18/2007 9:58:49 AM PDT by LdSentinal
Once again, John Edwards' money is getting in the way of his message. His Democratic presidential campaign spent Friday responding to a front-page Wall Street Journal report showing that a company that Edwards worked for and has invested $16 million in, Fortress Investment Group, owns mortgage companies that have sought to foreclose on homeowners in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. The newspaper identified 34 homes that are the subject of foreclosure suits.
Edwards, who made a fortune as a trial lawyer, worked for Fortress from late 2005 through 2006. Campaign finance reports show its employees and family members have contributed heavily to his campaign.
Edwards, a former U.S. senator who makes his home in Orange County, told The Journal that he would personally provide financial help to New Orleans residents who have lost their homes to Fortress-affiliated businesses.
He also said that he would pull out any investments he had that profited from those homeowners' losses.
"I will not have my family's money invested in these firms," Edwards said.
His staff said he was on the campaign trail in Iowa on Friday and unavailable for comment.
A campaign spokesman, Eric Schultz, released a statement that said Edwards would take responsibility for those hit with foreclosures, but it provided no details as to what Edwards planned to do.
"He's taking responsibility, because for him that is the meaning of leadership," Schultz said.
Edwards has sought to be identified on the campaign trail as a champion of the poor and the working class. At many campaign stops, including New Orleans, he has criticized predatory lenders for taking advantage of people who can ill afford it.
It's that contrast between his public message and his financial dealings that continues to dog his campaign.
Money and trouble
Over the past several months, he has had to respond to reports about $400 haircuts, a $6 million estate he built last year, and a nonprofit he created and pitched as an anti-poverty organization that benefited his campaign.
His attacks on conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch led to the disclosure earlier this month in one of Murdoch's newspapers of a $900,000 book deal Edwards struck with a Murdoch-owned publisher. Edwards' campaign said he is donating the proceeds from the 2006 book "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives" to charity.
Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at N.C. State University, said issues like the expensive haircuts or palatial home are peripheral compared to the war in Iraq or the nation's health-care crisis, but they hurt Edwards more because of his populist message.
"It really shows you're on the other side of the message," Taylor said. "It says you're one of the other guys -- the rich guys."
The problem lenders
The Fortress-affiliated companies that made the home loans -- Green Tree Servicing and Nationstar Mortgage -- are known as subprime lenders. These are companies that will make home loans to people with credit problems, though the borrowers are likely to pay higher costs.
Some of these subprime lenders have been labeled predatory by critics, because the lenders offer high-interest mortgages that often include additional fees, and penalties for early payoffs. The Journal reported that the two lenders fit that profile.
Lenders have faced heat for foreclosing on homes in areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Some mortgage companies have cut homeowners slack as they try to get back on their feet.
Edwards' financial ties to subprime lenders first surfaced in a Washington Post article in May. The newspaper reported that Green Tree threatened foreclosure of a 67-year-old woman whose home had been flooded out.
Edwards told The Post then that he had asked Fortress to find Katrina victims foreclosed on by Green Tree and to help them.
"I said, 'This is not O.K. that this is happening,' " Edwards said in the report. "I don't know how many cases there are ... but the right thing is to go back and fix this."
Yep, that was one of 'em.
lol, yeah he pulls out AFTER HE HAS MADE HIS MILLIONS......
how stupid does he think every one is......
John Edwards linked to losses of homes
the piaps’ motto...no one gets out alive....
just ask vince foster!!!!!
Edwards’ wealth prevents him from being identified with the problems of the everyday Joe and Jane Doe. He can’t make the crossover.
foreclosing on a loan that is NOT BEING REPAID is profiting?????? i thought foreclosures were bad for mortgage companies?????......must have been the parallel universe that had some mortgage firms go belly up last week......
I thought Kerry was the biggest liar/hypocrite ever to run for President, but his Vice-Presidential pick is moving up quick on the outside and may yet take the lead.
He’s doing what he does best! stealing from anyone he can
John Edwards: Rich Fat-Cat Lawyer
LOL... Maybe I'll offer to let him pay off my mortgage for me.
Yea, now that he's been caught.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.