Florida leads the nation in mortgage fraud, but the Scott administration drastically cut staffing of the state mortgage fraud investigation unit in the Office of Financial Regulation. What kind of message is Gov. Rick Scott sending to the nation, and will he be given time during the Republican National Convention in Tampa to explain? At the same time, former Gov. Bush could explain to the nation how his mantra, "less process, more protection" has worked out in Florida.
The editorial board of the St. Pete Times wrote last weekend of Scott's handpicked former chief of the Office of Financial Regulation: "... Grady's actions suggest he saw his job as advancing Scott's plan to shrink government's size and influence and put friends in high places. For instance, Grady replaced a veteran division director with Greg Hila, an unqualified chiropractor-turned-real estate agent who played golf with Scott. And Grady's grand idea for boosting investigations into securities fraud was to establish an "all-volunteer" advisory council of securities lawyers to hunt and report on the wrongdoing they see. Never mind that lawyers who represent clients often have professional obligations to keep quiet."
At the Republican National Convention, Gov. Scott is sure to have time to explain.
(Martin Short, who did a guest turn for the cable TV series "Damages", is lined up to play former OFR Chief Grady, in a made-for-TV drama on mortgage fraud in Florida with fictionalized versions of Grady and Scott. The plot line could go along the line of the St. Pete Times editorial conclusion: "Grady saved the state a few million dollars at OFR, but he may have cost Florida's victims of financial fraud even more. By closing so many regional offices, Grady made it harder for the agency to effect a statewide presence and provide victims with locally delivered relief. Yes, it's smaller government — but it's also government doing less to protect financial consumers and investors.")
The editorial board of the St. Pete Times wrote last weekend of Scott's handpicked former chief of the Office of Financial Regulation: "... Grady's actions suggest he saw his job as advancing Scott's plan to shrink government's size and influence and put friends in high places. For instance, Grady replaced a veteran division director with Greg Hila, an unqualified chiropractor-turned-real estate agent who played golf with Scott. And Grady's grand idea for boosting investigations into securities fraud was to establish an "all-volunteer" advisory council of securities lawyers to hunt and report on the wrongdoing they see. Never mind that lawyers who represent clients often have professional obligations to keep quiet."
At the Republican National Convention, Gov. Scott is sure to have time to explain.
(Martin Short, who did a guest turn for the cable TV series "Damages", is lined up to play former OFR Chief Grady, in a made-for-TV drama on mortgage fraud in Florida with fictionalized versions of Grady and Scott. The plot line could go along the line of the St. Pete Times editorial conclusion: "Grady saved the state a few million dollars at OFR, but he may have cost Florida's victims of financial fraud even more. By closing so many regional offices, Grady made it harder for the agency to effect a statewide presence and provide victims with locally delivered relief. Yes, it's smaller government — but it's also government doing less to protect financial consumers and investors.")
3 comments:
And Bondi didn't help by backing down to the banks...........
Lest we forget the stacked against the consumer PSC, ALF Board and so many others.
Yes, I'd love to see Scott explain to the GOP about the watered down Mortgage Fraud Board. I wonder how Nevada is handling their problem, which are at par or surpass our mortgage problems?
To this day, when I hear about Alex Sink, it's like nails on a blackboard. If she didn't run such a crappy campaign, perhaps things would be a little different. At the least, we'd have some type of environmental protections (but that's for a different topic all together)!
We wrote a lot about the sunk'd Sink campaign and hope she has retired from political life.
Do you think the GOP cares about mortgage fraud investigations and the cuts the office that investigates it? What these bankers want to do is go back to the era when they could securitize crap mortgages, get cashed out at a handsome profit, leaving someone else to pick up the pieces. If only we hadn't burned the Chinese already, they'd be ripe for the plucking with the billions they're holding.
When have you ever seen a member of the modern GOP give a shit about anyone who doesn't belong to a country club?
Scott will be welcomed out of prime time and out of sight as someone who manipulated voting to make it more likely that Romney takes the state.
Post a Comment