Iowa Contenders Silent On Foreclosure-Crisis Reckoning Sought By Iowa AG

Republican candidates vying for the support of Iowa caucus-goers on Tuesday evening apparently have nothing to say about the big, bipartisan foreclosure fraud settlement sought by the Hawkeye State's top law enforcement official.

For the past year, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller has led a coalition of state AGs in search of a reckoning with the nation's biggest banks over homeowner abuse and rogue foreclosures. The settlement -- which could provide as much as $25 billion of relief for mistreated current and former homeowners -- is currently the biggest thing happening in the housing-policy world. The deal, which could be inked as soon as this month, has the support of most state attorneys general; a small handful of Democratic attorneys general have left the negotiations, complaining the deal is too soft on the banks.

Yet even though the top cop negotiating the settlement is headquartered in the state where Republican candidates are frantically campaigning, none of them, apparently, has uttered a word about the settlement.

HuffPost reporters who have been covering campaigns in Iowa for the past week haven't heard a peep about foreclosures. A news database search for the terms "Iowa" and "caucuses" and "foreclosures" turns up no comments from the candidates or their surrogates on the topic. Google news searches for terms like "Tom Miller" or "foreclosure settlement" and "Iowa caucuses" yield no results.

Miller's office declined to comment.

Part of the reason is that the candidates don't have much to offer in terms of solutions to the ongoing foreclosure crisis. In what might be his most detailed statement on the foreclosure crisis, front runner Mitt Romney suggested the government should step aside and let the market heal itself.

"Let it run its course and hit the bottom," Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal's editorial board. "Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up."

The issue could be a potent one for Republicans, as the Obama administration's signature foreclosure prevention effort has largely failed to staunch the nation's foreclosure crisis. Instead of the 3 to 4 million mortgage modifications Obama promised in 2009, the effort has yielded fewer than 800,000 lasting modifications; nearly 1 million homeowners have seen their modifications canceled. The Obama administration is working alongside Miller in the settlement talks.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the only Republican candidate to offer a detailed position on the settlement talks, is skipping Iowa to campaign in New Hampshire instead.

"It's almost like nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room, which is the foreclosure crisis," said Liz Ryan Murray, policy director for community organizing group National People's Action, part of a coalition of consumer advocacy groups pushing for a stronger settlement. Asked why the Republicans wouldn't talk about the foreclosure crisis, Murray said, "My guess would just be that they don't have any good solutions."

Story updated to include comment from Murray.

Comments

[l78lancer]

05:57 PM on 01/04/2012

The GOP cantidates' silence is really telling in terms of who is beholden to the banks and corporate interests in America. Even though the mortgage crisis is directly tied to the economic problems in this nation today, it is unconscionable that not one of them had the guts to address it not even tangentially.

The must have forgotten that economy and jobs reall are the issues.

The reality is that they - the GOP - are the ones fearful of pissing off the banks and other large contributors associated with the mortgage market.

[zbowling]

09:34 PM on 01/04/2012

It's the DOJ's responsibility to prosecute fraud. Both parties are guilty, but the democrats are actually the recipients of most of the bankers largess.
How many Democratic crusaders do you remember standing up and saying something about the banks? Even more importantly, why didn't Obama's appointment to the Treasury, Secretary Geithner fix the HAMP program?

Why didn't Obama and Geithner fight for Cram downs. It's actually more telling that when Democrats had majorities in the house, senate and had the presidency the only programs that got pushed out were for saving the banks while the homeowners drowned. That's why we put them there and gave them majorities -- to fight for us. No one ever expected the GOP to do it.

[l78lancer]

12:56 AM on 01/05/2012

Do you actually plan on responding to my post about the cantidates or are you just going to b_tch about Obama? If it's the latter then please respond to another post.

Thank you.

[BlueDogDC]

05:37 PM on 01/05/2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-03/jpmorgan-bofa-among-17-banks-sued-by-fhfa-over-196-billion-in-securities.html Obama administration not doing anything? Not to mention the DOJ does not have jurisdiction over these state claims. Face it, you have no clue. Just rambling.

[KWiedemer]

09:45 AM on 01/04/2012

The GOP has no solutions - not for job creation, the foreclosure crisis...nothing. Other than, of course, how to preserve and inflate the wealth accumulation of their corporate cronies.

On the other hand, Democrats in Congress also aren't willing to step up and hold the banks accountable. Period. They are all corrupt, paid for puppets, unwilling to change the status quo in which the greedy (also corrupt) Wall Street thieves and corporate CEO's line their campaign coffers and dictate legislative policy.

The hypocrisy of the GOP is highlited further by the whining coming from Gringrich re negative ads run by Romney's PAC & others: the result of the Citizens United ruling. Cry, baby, cry, You got what you asked for.

Maybe they should all stop hiding behind the first amendment in their advertising and campaign rhetoric and start telling the truth - about themselves, their values (or lack thereof) and the role of criminal activity on the part of their largest campaign donors: Wall Street banks, mortgage servicers, investment & real-estate brokers and the crooks (investments bankers and insurance companies) who bundled the loans and sold them fraudulently...

[jlkitts]

08:25 AM on 01/04/2012

Buried deep in the article is the real story: OBAMA FAIL.

the Obama administration's signature foreclosure prevention effort has largely failed to staunch the nation's foreclosure crisis. Instead of the 3 to 4 million mortgage modifications Obama promised in 2009, the effort has yielded fewer than 800,000 lasting modifications; nearly 1 million homeowners have seen their modifications canceled.

FAIL

[2005jimmy]

08:47 AM on 01/04/2012

So, what has Obama have to do with the fact that the republican Candidates have said nothing. Keep in mind it was during the period of Republican control the Home Owner Loans, that were not screeened by the lending agency, were sold to investors as AAA loans. So Obama has not done all that well, but I presume that your brought up Obama to get him out of office and bring back the players that got us to the home issues we have today. Think about it, selling a product which is likely to come apart at the seams, sure seems like lying to me.

[zbowling]

08:11 PM on 01/04/2012

This crisis was bipartisan through and through.
The Democrats held majorities during the 2nd term of Bush.
It's important that we stop playing their partisan bickering games. This issue has to do with the people versus the banks and whose side are the politicians on- each one them as individuals. They must be held responsible and voted out of office.

HAMP was not designed to work, it was designed to give the Banks more time to recover. Giethner said as much.

As far as Tom Miller and the settlement, it's another bank giveaway, and the banks have already scoffed at 18 billion so I don't know where the author is getting the figures.
Miller has refused to do real investigations into the depth of the CRIMINAL FRAUD AT EVERY LEVEL so the settlement is meant to sweep it under the rug for the banks and let them settle for fines or paltry reimbursements to injured parties.
If it weren't such a whitewash then NY AG Eric Schneiderman, AG Biden and a few others wouldn't have dropped out to lead the charge for *real* investigations because the Federal Government has failed us. More than 3 million people have had their homes repossessed and not one of these parasites have gone to jail, and the fines are still paid by the stockholders, while the real criminals still have their filthy lucre in the form of unearned commissions and bonus payments that we were forced to pay with bailout money.

[mea25]

12:02 AM on 01/04/2012

Yeah. The "sanctity" of marriage between a man and a woman is SO much more important..as are the rights or unborn fetuses and the rights of people wanting to bring concealed weapons into churches, bars and schools. Yup. SOOOOOOO much more important than the epidemic of unjust foreclosures and the extension of unemployment benefits to the hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans who are truly suffering while this field of Repoopicant candidates diddles about legislating prayer in school and Constitutional amendments regarding the meaning of marriage.

[mdmarak]

11:44 PM on 01/03/2012

If you cant pay you dont stay!!!!!!!!! Stay out of it Obama...........I pay my debts....No bank went to a person and said hey buy this House you cant afford......You the person went to the bank and said I want to buy this house....(Knowing you couldnt make the payments) ....... Live within your means people and we wont have these issues! If you cant pay, you dont stay! The truth hurts America! Start acting like grown ups and stop looking for a free hand out! I work atleast 80 hours a week and raise a family, make house payments etc. All on very little income.....You must live on a budget! maybe a few more of you should listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio......He says it best by saving you need to live on beans and rice! instead of wine and dine!

[DaveMac45]

11:56 PM on 01/03/2012

You obviously listen to too much talks radio. Rather than let Dave Ramsey do your thinking, you should to do a little research of your own. Listening to only one source of news is rather limiting.

[mea25]

12:05 AM on 01/04/2012

whaaaa? huh? der? what does your comment have to do with the fact that not a one of the repoopicant candidates has offered their solution for what they would do as President of the USA on the troubling challenge of the foreclosure crisis. that's ok. people like you blame everything under the sun on President Obama. the rest of us know the score.

[LaoShur]

10:56 PM on 01/03/2012

"..front runner Mitt Romney suggested the government should step aside and let the market heal itself. "Let it run its course and hit the bottom," Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal's editorial board. "Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up."

Um...Mitt, that is why we have this problem, DEREGULATION and the government stepping aside!! And those homes already HAD "investors", they LIVED in those homes and paid into their mortgages on those homes!!
Why don't you return to Bain Capital and slash some more jobs from companies they own so you can pose with your dirty lucre?!!

[skeakins]

01:37 AM on 01/04/2012

Unfortunately, Romney is right. Obama is purposely training the people of the US to become dependent on the government. The government will "take care of us" is the new mantra. He's creating a dependent, socialistic society. Very dangerous.

[LaoShur]

04:59 AM on 01/04/2012

Mitt is as wrong as he can possibly be, but what do you expect from a corporate shill? And I EXPECT my government to "take of me", not to "take care of" the corporations that have hundreds of millions of $$$! THEY can take care of themselves, I CAN'T control THEIR effect on MY life, so I expect MY government to do so.
You toe the party line that people which expect something in return for THEIR tax dollars are asking for a handout. I'M asking for a safeguard for things I have NO control over.

[diomedes23]

10:50 PM on 01/03/2012

The Republicans don't want to talk about what's affecting the common man. They wan't to talk about abortion, sodomy, the Federal Reserve, a black man in the White House (shhh), and the End of the World as we know it.

[tjdwill02]

10:54 PM on 01/03/2012

What's affecting the common man is ignorance.

[diomedes23]

11:02 PM on 01/03/2012

Well, that been going on for quite a while and isn't likely to change.

[mikecumbow]

10:47 PM on 01/03/2012

so Republican candidates who have no power or authority, in your opinion have" no real solutions to the problem". Really....... Arthur Delaney....... so this isn't really a hit piece by a democrat media type.
WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRTING ABOUT IS HOW THE PERSON ELECTED INTO OFFICE, WHO HAS POWER AND AUTHORITY - HAS NO FREAKING SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. Oh but that would be obama your socialist joke of a president.

[wrasmus306]

11:50 PM on 01/03/2012

"WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN WRTING ABOUT IS HOW THE PERSON ELECTED INTO OFFICE, WHO HAS POWER AND AUTHORITY - HAS NO FREAKING SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM. Oh but that would be obama your socialist joke of a president. "

But, do not write about the fact that, no matter what the person elected does, the Congressional leadership, in its INFINITE wisdom, has already decided that whatever that person proposes, even if it dovetails with their own policies, SHALL NEVER COME TO PASS.

Of course, that is GOTP brainwashing you are exhibiting. Pray away the homeowner, like praying away the gay.

[crabbyj67]

11:56 PM on 01/03/2012

The President has provided solutions, but is opposed by right-wingers who would sacrifice the average American to gain power, suupported by the non-thinking, knee-jerk reacting, Obama-haters, who repeat the same ol' tired accusations, lame insults, and "prove" their points only by creating alternate realities, i.e. lying...not unlike the lie you just posted implying that the President has the ultimate and absolute power.

[zbowling]

08:31 PM on 01/04/2012

That is not true. HAMP was never a solution.
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/treasury-done-very-little-to-fix-governments-foreclosure-prevention-program/
For every Obama Hater, there seems to be an Obama Apologist and neither group can look at the problem objectively.

[builderman55]

10:45 PM on 01/03/2012

Duh...it's way too hard to talk when you are sitting in someone's pocket...

[GHY1]

10:34 PM on 01/03/2012

Republicans saying they want the market to take care of everything is like saying let the fire take care of the forest it will grow back. They only care about end result not the people or trees they burn in the process.

[tjdwill02]

10:51 PM on 01/03/2012

Republican­s saying they want the market to take care of everything********* No ! they want the government follow the Constitution, promoting and making the private sector flourish, not compete with and extort the private sector.......However, I can understand how you're confused. You wouldn't learn that in the 3rd grade.

[zbowling]

09:00 PM on 01/04/2012

"promoting and making the private sector flourish" is not part of the constitution.
They need to protect us from monopolies which kill competition. It's what they used to do, now they protect monopolies but they hardly extort them.
Politicians have put a for sale sign in the front lawn of America.
You dont see lobbyists lining up to a cashier window crying their eyes out. Congress is controlled by big money, not the other way around. they need it to get re-elected.

[ruburnt]

10:26 PM on 01/03/2012

Yeah...It's all the Republicans fault...the Dems had nothing, what so ever, to do with the housing crisis....http://cesidio.com/Timeline-of-the-Housing-Crisis.php

[Jimsthename]

10:26 PM on 01/03/2012

The GOP is for the banks.

[tjdwill02]

10:34 PM on 01/03/2012

Bullht**........ Before Frank Dodd..TOO BIG TO FAIL...........After Frank- Dodd...........STILL TOO BIG TO FAIL.........DEMOCRATS MUST LIKE IT THAT WAY !!!!!!

[zbowling]

12:52 AM on 01/05/2012

No, the GOP is for deregulation and no taxes for businesses or the rich. They will turn us into a state like the mariana islands, poisoned by industial spills, where illegal prostitution is rampant and you'll probably spend all of your money feeding your 9 kids because there wont be any birth control available.

Democrats are for the banks, and some of them are for covering up their fraud, which is also fraud. They will turn us into a state where you live in a cardboard box in a vacant lot behind walmart where Legal prostitution is everywhere.

[biabouman41]

10:22 PM on 01/03/2012

These Republican candidates are silent on most things. They deal only with tangential issues and compete tosee who is the best curser of Obama.
On mortgages, student loans, rebuilding infrastructure, tax breaks for the middle class, education reform, new energy policy and above all on jobs they are silent and in a stupor.

[tjdwill02]

10:40 PM on 01/03/2012

Elect one and see how silent they are ! There's NO FREE LUNCH.......Contrary to Liberal Democrats....... Borrowing money that you can't repay, financing a worthless degree, throwing more money at education, and forcing " green energy " under government duress, is precisely why we're here !

[patient i am]

10:44 PM on 01/03/2012

you are an i diot!

[mcn4165]

03:08 AM on 01/04/2012

Oh Yes TJ, Two unpaid for Wars, tax cuts for wealthy people, an unpaid for Medicare prescription program have absolutely NOTHING to do with why the Country is where it is now. Seriously, how stupid are you people? STOP watching Fox News and take 5 minutes and so some research. Of course you won't because the TRUTH isn't what you want it to be.

[mikecumbow]

10:49 PM on 01/03/2012

Mortagages and Student loans should be paid for by the person who took it out. Why should the rest of us bail them out? It is a small percentage that have caused the problem. So why I agree to help them pay off their mortagage, cut the principle or pay off their studient loan, yet expect to have to pay my student loan and mortage off in full. BS. If they need help refinance, not reduce their principle. If they cant afford it, sale it. .

[mcn4165]

03:10 AM on 01/04/2012

Oh Mikey, you should stop watching Fox and spend that time reading a dictionary. It might allow you to learn proper grammar and spelling skills.

[biabouman41]

06:08 AM on 01/04/2012

So you are thinking that you should only go to college if your parents can afford to send you? In that situation we would have the richest but dumbest running the country and we would drown in our own refuse.

Plus, as Elizabeth Warren said your father did NOT get rich on his own. We built the roads on which he sent his products to market, we paid to educate his employees, AND the social contract says he has a responsibility to pay forward to educate the next generation.

[skimore]

10:07 PM on 01/03/2012

Well, the general Republican position is that citizens should pull themselves out of financial situations and that they should be self reliant to solve their own problems....the candidates just cannot dare to say that to those who have had their homes foreclosed on or are facing foreclosure....easier to demonize Obama as the cause and the knuckle draggers have bought that lie.

[zbowling]

09:26 PM on 01/04/2012

Actually thats the Democrats position too. You're on your own against the banks who have acted recklessly and defrauded the public. Tom Miller is there to whitewash the criminal fraud away. It's the DLC Democrats who don't dare to say it, but they aren't doing anything to help.

GOP has no problem with saying anything, They are proud to denigrate victims of bankers or the poor as lazy and shiftless drifters who deserve everything that happens to them. They think of it as a tax on the stupid.

[tomgold125]

10:05 PM on 01/03/2012

The Huffington post is more of a leftist organization?

[butdoyou]

11:06 PM on 01/03/2012

Another dumb conservative? Hey buddy if you want a balanced forum check out NPR, LOL=)