DEMOCRAT DIRTY LAUNDRY: Steve Israel Gets $100,000 Bank Bailout Using Program For Struggling Homeowners
DCCC Chairman Cuts Deal After His Home’s Value Plummets
SPIN CYCLE: Then-Speaker Pelosi Promised that Democrats Would “Demand the Highest Ethics from Every Public Servant”:
“Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.” (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21)
RINSE CYCLE: Steve Israel Owns A Second Residence, Yet Received A $93,000 Debt Reduction Break On His New York Home Through A Financial Program Intended For Struggling Homeowners:
“Banks and members of Congress have something in common: They both get bailouts.
The bank that holds Long Island Rep. Steve Israel’s mortgage has approved a special deal allowing him to wiggle out of nearly $100,000 owed on his Dix Hills home while he unloads the property, The Post has learned,
And Republicans are demanding an investigation.
Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is in the same predicament as many other homeowners who bought their properties during an overheated real-estate market, only to see their home’s value plummet: He’s “underwater.”
The congressman’s mortgage is considerably higher than the value of his home.
He and his wife, Family Court Judge Arlene Budd, bought their seven-room Dix Hills home in 2004 for $580,000.
They now owe $553,000 on the mortgage.
But mortgage holder JPMorgan Chase bailed Israel out — by approving what real-estate executives call a “short sale” for $460,000. The deal forgives $93,000 in debt Israel owes the bank — the difference between his mortgage obligation and the sale.
The bank eats the 17 percent loss, and, presto, Israel’s debt problem disappears.
To read the entire story, click here.