Here are some excerpts from the Dispatch (1/19/06):
....Sen. Steve Stivers, a Republican and former lobbyist for Bank One, said Ohio should remain one of only two states that exempts the mortgage industry from the Consumer Sales Practices Act....
....Stivers isn't finding much support in his own caucus, much less among advocates for the poor.
Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said the proposals would not address Ohio?s mortgage lending problems.
"The bottom line is the homeowner has to have the ability to seek redress," he said, adding that consumers have more protections when buying a toaster than a house...
Unfortunately, Ohio is one of the top states in the current foreclosure mess. Does Stivers still feel the same way about protecting lenders instead of consumers?
----> Did you see this article in the New York Times Magazine's cover story called
....Going into the 2008 elections, (Rep. Tom) Cole faces a daunting list of challenges. To date, 29 of his party’s representatives in Congress have retired, an unusually large number, leaving open politically marginal seats that incumbents might have held but which will be more difficult for challengers to defend — Deborah Pryce’s seat in Columbus, Ohio; Mike Ferguson’s in central New Jersey; Heather Wilson’s around Albuquerque; Thomas M. Reynolds’s in Buffalo. Reynolds, Cole’s predecessor at the N.R.C.C., just narrowly held his seat in 2006. Rick Renzi, a Republican congressman from Arizona, was indicted last month on federal corruption charges, putting what was another safe Republican seat in play. These vacancies mean that in a year when, by historical standards, his party would be expected to win back seats, Cole will have to defend many more seats than he will be able to attack (only six Democratic incumbents have announced they are leaving office). His committee has approximately $5 million on hand, roughly one-eighth the amount of cash on hand as its Democratic counterpart, which at latest count had $38 million. Worse still, the National Republican Congressional Committee recently discovered, during an internal audit, accounting fraud so extensive that it had to call in the F.B.I., which is now investigating embezzlement by the committee’s former treasurer. Many conservative activists have become so dissatisfied with the party’s heresies, particularly on immigration and government spending, that as Cole’s staff took over, the committee’s fund-raising pleas were being ignored and, on at least one occasion, returned in an envelope stuffed with feces.....
Interesting.