Posted on 02/18/2014 3:38:06 PM PST by Second Amendment First
Former Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) won't switch districts to run for Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod's (D-Calif.) seat.
"No, I'm running for the 31st Congressional seat," Baca told The Hill when reached by phone shortly after Negrete McLeod's announcement that she'll leave Congress after one term. "That has no bearing on me making any kind of decision, I've already made my decision to run in the 31st which is my old district and a vacancy. There's no incumbent in that seat, I'm a veteran with a proving track record and experience and seniority matters."
Baca lost to Negrete McLeod in a nasty all-party race in 2012, and is now running for retiring Rep. Gary Miller's (R-Calif.) seat. National Democrats have sought to block him from winning the nomination in that seat; the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has endorsed Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar (D).
The former congressman lost his race to McLeod partly because then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent nearly $3 million attacking him on environmental and gun issues, and has raised a paltry sum so far for his comeback attempt, with approximately $20,000 in the bank.
He slammed both Bloomberg and DCCC Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) for meddling in California politics, and said they'd work against him no matter where he ran — and took a final shot at McLeod, his longtime foe, calling her a "bimbo."
"What's the difference? They've conspired to work against me in one, they'd turn around and do the same in the other, right? Would you roll the dice and hope they wouldn't?" he asked rhetorically.
"Look at what we wound up with: Some bimbo who decided not to run again. ... Here we go again now with another New Yorker trying to tell us who's going to be the representative of the 31st. It's up to the people to decide."
Negrete McLeod declined to respond to Baca when reached by phone Tuesday afternoon.
"I have no comment on the infamous Joe Baca," she said.
UPDATE:
Baca called back Tuesday evening to apologize for his "poor choice of words."
"I was just upset the district lost a representative in a short period of time. To me, that's a disservice to the area. I do apologize for my poor choice of words," Baca told The Hill.
A 72 year old bimbo? OK, I guess...
Imagine what would happen had a Republican called a sitting Demcorat Rep (Pelosi) a “bimbo”.
The massive mortgage fraud ended in disaster for which no one has been held responsible. Taxpayers got saddled with billions of dollars in bailout bills.
These subprime activities were not simply the mortgage market at work. They were fueled by avarice, greed, stupidity--all enabled by Congressmen and other groups which leave a trail at the door of then-Cong Joe Baca (D-Cali).
Between 2000 and 2009, Hispanic populations increased; but Hispanic home ownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the US Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by an enemic 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%; Latinos with multiple fraudulent identities in low-paying jobs obtained costly non-prime mortgages---soaring to a shocking 169%, (Research provided by Wall Street Journal)
The subprime mortgage bank fraud network was spearheaded by then-Cong Joe Baca (D-Calif 43rd), in his powerful position as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Baca's district ranks No.5 among all US Congressional districts in percentage of home loans tailored to sub-prime borrowers.
Baca used his the legislative power of his office and his leadership position in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to calculatedly launch a housing initiative called "HOGAR"-- Spanish for home.
The entities engaged in conspiracies to collude with industry and community groups to increase mortgage lending to Latinos--knowing full well forged fraudulent identities and falsified mortgage applications were being used.
Mortgage lenders---lured by huge profits---eagerly provided funding to Baca's group, and fielded an army to bestow with mortgage loans on unqualified latinos which were destined for default.
In years past, minority borrowers seeking loans were often stopped because banks and mortgage companies with sound business practices were reluctant to lend within particular low-income geographical areas. This reasonable business practice was mischaracterized as "racialist" as a way to intimidate lenders.
However, the soundness of the earlier business practices resonated as the subprime financial devastation began to wreak havoc on the nation's economy. Taxpayers were saddled with monstrous bills as defaults reached stratospheric heights.
Cong Baca's modus operandi and his collusive efforts to open the mortgage pipeline to unqualified borrowers proved highly successful.
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BACA ORGANIZES A close look at the network Cong Baca organized, pushing for increased mortgage lending to unqualified buyers reveals a disturbing picture.
<><> HOGAR (Spanish for home)---the initiative to promote Latino homeownership---was created by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Inc, a non-profit entity founded and run by Baca and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus along with corporate and nonprofit representatives.
<><>Subprime-industry executives got in early, as advisers to "HOGAR" bankrolled more than $2 million of HOGAR's flawed research (NOTE so-called "research money" could have been laundered into Baca-related entities).
<><>Lawmakers and latino advocacy groups pushed hard to weaken credit criteria that inexorably led to the subprime debacle.
<><>Members of Baca-led Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who received donations from the lending industry, stood idly by as their constituents moved into new homes bought with fraudulent documents and falsified mortgage apps. The lawmen had undermined US law by pushing for eased lending standards, which led to massive foreclosures, tax burdens, and UNTOLD DAMAGE TO THE US economy.
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The Congressional Hispanic Institute, Inc, an entity organized by Baca's Congressional Hispanic Caucus created "HOGAR" (Spanish for home) in 2003 to work with industry and community groups to increase mortgage lending to unqualified Latinos.
At that time, Baca hyped the fact that the national Latino homeownership rate was 47%, compared with 68% for the overall population. "HOGAR" called the figure "alarming," and said a concerted effort was required to ensure that "by the end of the decade Latinos will share equally in the American Dream of home ownership."
Most of the "dreamers" were citizens of Third World countries who had violated US borders.
Predictably, HOGAR's backers included mortgage companies that ran into big trouble: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both now under federal control after billions in taxpayer bailouts; Countrywide Financial Corp., sold to Bank of America Corp.; Washington Mutual Inc., taken over by the US government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; and New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest Mortgage Corp, both now defunct, killed by unpaid Latino mortgages.
HOGAR's ties to the subprime industry were substantial. A Washington Mutual Bank vice president served as chairman of its advisory committee.
Bribery and self-dealing was rampant. Companies that donated $150,000 to Cong Baca got the right to place a research fellow who would conduct HOGAR's fraudulent studies, which were used by industry lobbyists. For donations to Baca of $100,000 a year, HOGAR offered to provide optimistic news releases from Baca's Hispanic Caucus promoting a lender's commercial products for the Latino market, a shocking example of bribery well-substantitated by the group's literature.
"HOGAR" worked with Freddie Mac on a self-serving two-year examination of Latino homeownership in 63 congressional districts.
The study found Hispanic ownership on the rise thanks to "new flexible mortgage loan products" that the industry was adopting at the urging of Cong Baca's coterie. HOGAR recommended further easing of down-payment and underwriting standards.
However, as the subprime debacle ensued, representatives for HOGAR declined repeated requests for comment despite the economic havoc their activities precipitated.
NOTE: NYT and WSJ provided some of the research material.
.....had a Republican called a sitting Demcorat Rep (Pelosi) a “bimbo”.
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Gee, with a name like ‘Negrete’ I was forced to look for a picture.
She dropped her first name...GLORIA....hmm wonder why?
Sounds like that Sanchez sister that beat Bob Dornan..ran a race with her ‘Anglo Married name’ then, after losing, went with Sanchez - In Southern California (or is that now Northern Mexico)?
1) the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President's Achievement Award,
2) the National Farmers Union Presidential Award for Leadership,
3) the Walter Kaitz Foundation Diversity Advocate Award,
4) the U.S. Department of Agriculture Coalition of Minority Employees Award of Excellence.
5) Latino Leaders Magazine lists Baca as one of the top 100 most influential Hispanic leaders in America,
6) ranked twelfth on the list of the top 42 Hispanics on the "Who's Hot" list,
7) there's the Joe Baca Senior Field at the Empire Center, Fontana; and,
8) the Joe Baca Field at the Rialto Boys and Girls Club.
9) Colton Joint Unified School District named the "Joe Baca Middle School" at 1640 S. Lilac Avenue in Rialto, Cali
BACA KNOWS PUBLIC SERVICE IS LUCRATIVE---HERE'S HOW HE CASHES IN
<><>In 2005, mortgage banks and finance companies gave Baca at least $2.3 million dollars.
<><>In October 2008, a charitable foundation set up by Baca received $25,000 from AmeriDream Inc, a so-called " nonprofit" housing program (did AmeriDream get earmarks?).
<><> AmeriDream's activities included providing down-payment money to unqualified buyers, a cost that was covered by home builders in the form of "donations" to the nonprofit. (NOTE Such loans--known as bridge loans--are considered illegal.) New housing legislation circa 2009 outlawed the program.
<><> Undeterred, Baca then co-sponsored a bill that would allow AmeriDream and similar nonprofits to resume arranging illegal seller-financed down-payment assistance to low-income latino FHA borrowers. Such seller-financed loans to latinos comprise one-third of the loans backed by the FHA, and have defaulted at nearly triple the rate of other FHA-insured loans, according to FHA's William Glavin.
In a self-serving news release, the latino mortgage facilitator----AmeriDream---said its "donation" to The Joe Baca Foundation was intended to "fund the purchase of gear for firefighters" in Baca's district.
<><> Local news reports say the Joe Baca Foundation gave away a measly $36,000 in scholarships in 2009.
Cong Baca's office declined to comment on the AmeriDream contribution. Baca remains resolutely opposed to strict lending rules (especially since taxpayers are saddled with the billions in mortgage defaults). "We nhighly eed to keep credit easily accessible to our minority communities," Baca said in a statement released by his office.
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IRS records indicate that Baca's son, Joe Baca Jr, pockets an annual salary of $51,800 as executive director of The Joe Baca Foundation, which is run out of the congressman's Caifornia home. Joe Baca Jr. insisted he takes half of the salary listed by the IRS. No word on the amount Baca Jr pays taxes on.
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Mortgage lending to Hispanics took off between 2004 and 2007, powered by nonprime loans. The biggest jump occurred in 2005. The 169% increase in nonprime mortgages to Hispanics that year outpaced a 122% gain for blacks, and a 110% increase for whites, according to a Journal analysis of mortgage-industry and federal-housing data.
Nonprime mortgages carry high interest rates and are tailored to borrowers with low credit scores or few assets. Between 2004 and 2007, black borrowers were offere nonprime loans at a slightly higher rate than Hispanics, but the overall number of Hispanic borrowers was much larger. From 2004 to 2005, thanks to then-Cong Baca, total nonprime home loans to Hispanics more than tripled to $69 billion from $19 billion, and peaked in 2006 at $73 billion.
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BACA AND LA RAZA---PERFECT TOGETHER It comes as no surprise that the race-based "La Raza" was given tax dollars and Congressionsl earmarks to finance its mortgage activities. La Raza's "strategic partnerships” with Wachovia and Bank of America forced the lowering mortgage-application requirements and documentation standards.
La Raza aided and abetted risky federal and private-home loans to latinos over the last decade thanks to the lending industry’s version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
In addition to millions of federal tax dollars, La Raza also collected a $1 million Democratic earmark that funded “community-development” projects. Analysts report that much of it went to "mortgage counseling." Cong Baca has been quiet about his role in financing, and, earmarking the blood-thirsty America-hating La Raza.
Maybe Workin’ Joe loses this time.
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