You heard that correctly. It’s hard to live on $169,300 a year. Now then, if that figure sounds kind of familiar, there is a reason. It just so happens that $169,300 per year is the annual salary of a member of the United States House of Representatives. That is the job that Laura Richardson, D-CA now holds.
Richardson (D-CA) was a member of the Long Beach City Council when she won a California state Assembly seat in November 2006, months before she bought the three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath Sacramento home. She won the congressional seat the next year in the special election to replace the late Juanita Millender-McDonald.
Congresswoman Richardson (D-CA) was decidedly upwardly mobile. In a very short period of time, she went from the Long Beach City Council, to the state Assembly and on to Washington, DC. Each of these moves required for her to fund a campaign, which she did by borrowing against the mortgages on her homes. That third home, by the way, in Sacramento, the one sold at a loss last month by the bank, was sold to her for $535,000 with no money down. At the time she bought that Sacramento home, she was already in default on her mortgage on the Long Beach home. She has, in fact, been in default on her mortgage on that primary residence no less than five times.
Property records uncovered by the Long Beach Press-Telegram cast new light onto the questionable finances of the Democrat Representative.
Richardson (D-CA) received a default notice on May 10, 2007, indicating she was $12,326.78 behind on her Long Beach home. She had not made a payment since January, when she bought her Sacramento home with no money down for $535,000.The loan against the Long Beach property was issued the previous summer, when Richardson (D-CA) refinanced for a sum of $446,250.
The original loan, issued in 1999, was for $108,000.
Richardson (D-CA) took $100,000 of the proceeds from the refinancing and lent it to her 2006 Assembly campaign. After winning the election, she raised some money to pay back the loan, but then turned around and put $77,500 into her congressional campaign.
Richardson (D-CA) made a payment on the Long Beach property in May, and the default was rescinded. But she immediately stopped making payments again and a second default notice, for $15,101, was issued in October.
Once again, Richardson (D-CA) made a payment on the arrearage but stopped making further payments. The loan defaulted again in March, at which point she owed $19,921.74.
The default notice was withdrawn again a few days later, and Richardson (D-CA) says she is now current on the Long Beach loan.
Richardson (D-CA) also defaulted twice on the original loan on the Long Beach property in 2004, in the wake of a marital separation. She was $8,376.49 behind on her payments in March 2004. She caught up, but quickly fell behind again and by September owed $5,815.73. That arrearage was later repaid, and Richardson was able to stay current on the house until 2007.
Last summer and fall, Richardson (D-CA) defaulted twice on her San Pedro property. The first time, in September 2007, she owed $12,410.71. She made a payment and was able to get that notice rescinded, but stopped making payments again, and a new default notice was issued in January.
That default led to a notice that an auction would be held on May 14. Before it got to that point, Richardson (D-CA) said she was able to negotiate a loan modification, and that auction has been put on hold until July.
Rep Richardson (D-CA) now seems to have her financial house in order. She is now, apparently, current with her mortgage lenders on the properties she still owns. She has indicated that she would like to be able to repurchase that Sacramento home. James York, a California broker who paid the bank $388,000 for the property has indicated that he would be willing to sell it back to the representative at the original 2007 purchase price.
James York, the Sacramento broker who bought the three-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home, rejected the idea that the home hadn’t been seized. The sale of the home was announced in March. “She’s walked away from the property,” he said. “I would be happy to resell her the home for the $535,000.”Richardson (D-CA) didn’t vote on the housing rescue deal that passed the House of Representatives two weeks ago and in a statement attributed her absence to her father’s funeral. But Richardson (D-CA) did vote last fall in favor of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, which passed and prevents the federal government from charging income tax on debt forgiven as a consequence of foreclosure.
Rep Richardson, (D-CA) has indicated that she would be interested in testifying before House committees looking into the foreclosure crisis, to help make the American public aware of the plight of homeowners having difficulties making their mortgage payments. I do not have any personal knowledge of whether or not she will be called to testify, but if I had to guess, if they are smart, the committee will tell her, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
On another note, who was the idiot banker that approved her for so many loans in the first place?
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.