California AG stumps for Warren in Lynn

LYNN – California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined Southern Essex Register of Deeds John O?Brien and members of the local state legislative delegation Wednesday morning for a press conference at Lynn Museum to support Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, who did not attend the event.During the event O?Brien and Harris referenced the roughly $25 billion settlement with five major banks earlier this year over alleged fraudulent foreclosure practices across the country, to say that Warren is best suited to defend homeowners from illegal foreclosure and to fight for consumers as a member of the Senate.?Elizabeth Warren has called me and had lengthy discussions with me on this issue,” O?Brien said. “Elizabeth Warren will hit the ground running and she will help me hold these banks accountable.”O?Brien, a Lynn Democrat who as register of deeds took his fight against the banks for fraudulent – or “robo-signed” – mortgage foreclosure documents national and compiled 38,000 of the forged documents at the Southern Essex Registry, said incumbent U.S. Senator Scott Brown and the Republican Party in general have been dismissive on the matter.?My perspective of Scott Brown and Republican office holders is that all I?m doing is defending deadbeats – people who don?t pay their mortgage. That?s what I hear all the time, but that?s not what we?re doing. Whether people pay their mortgage or don?t pay their mortgage, you do not go into court with fraudulent documents and take people?s homes,” O?Brien said.O?Brien, it should be noted, was not supportive of the settlement agreed upon by the 50 state attorneys general including Harris and Massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley, maintaining the settlement was too small. Massachusetts? portion of the settlement amounts to about $318 million, to help at-risk homeowners modify loans.Harris, the first female, African-American and Asian American-elected attorney general of California, touted Warren?s creation of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.?It?s the first time that our country, on the federal level, has created an entity purely for the purpose of looking out for consumers, to make sure consumers would not be tricked, and that there would not be this kind of fraud that produces these kinds of documents,” Harris said, pointing to large photos of robo-signed documents O?Brien brought to the event.?The American Dream is something that goes to the individual, but also creates a civil society,” Harris said. “When we have individuals work hard, play by the rules and have their piece (of the American Dream), it makes for better communities. Elizabeth Warren gets that,” Harris said.Harris noted California has seven of the top 10 communities in the nation hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis, with 2.2 million homeowners affected. She said many who have been foreclosed upon in her sate were victims of “dual tracking,” where a bank forecloses on a property due to an internal communication breakdown, even though the property owner is current on a modified loan agreement.?These are not people trying to rip off a system, not scam a system. The vast majority of folks at risk and in fact damaged (by the crisis) are the kind of folks I grew up with ? Ever known someone proud of their lawn? This is who I?m talking about,” she added. “In these positions of leadership we have responsibility to make sure we are lifting up and supporting people who are in need, who are vulnerable.”Harris said there is more work to be done to protect struggling homeowners. “I?m the chief elected law officer of the biggest state in this country. I own a little place. I confess to you, I did not read each and every page I signed (of my mortgage). Did anybody here? ? The process by which someone goes to buy a home should not be something where there is an assumption of risk beyond the responsibility to pay the mortgage as it has been agreed upon, on time. That?s why we need to have someone like Elizabeth Warren in