LYNN — During Elizabeth Warren’s first run for U.S. Senate in 2012, then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris spoke at the Lynn Museum to show her support for the candidate.
John O’Brien, who was the Southern Essex register of deeds at the time, was contacted by Warren’s campaign, which asked him if he could introduce Harris to those in attendance at the museum.
“I think the reason they asked me to do that was the Salem registry was at the forefront of exposing the banks for the fraudulent documents that they were recording,” O’Brien said. “Harris was the AG, and she was working hand in hand with the same sort of ideas that I had to put a stop to this and expose it. And, she was doing a great job.”
O’Brien said the event had a decent amount of people in attendance, and added that Harris was “fabulous” when addressing the crowd.
“I told people, and this is weird how things happen in life, but I said, ‘You could be looking at someone who’s going to be a future president of the United States here,’” O’Brien said. “She was sharp as a tack, and lo and behold, you know, there’s a very, very, very strong possibility that that’s going to happen.”
O’Brien said there was a mortgage crisis in the country at the time. Prior to Harris’ visit, he said the registry had exposed robo-signers, or employees of a mortgage-servicing company who sign paperwork such as foreclosure documents robotically without reviewing them, who were forging documents. O’Brien said that Harris, as an attorney general, was very supportive of the registry’s efforts and assisted in exposing the situation across the country.
“I was very proud to have the opportunity to introduce her and to have her come to Lynn,” O’Brien said. “She’s going to be a very, very strong candidate, and I think a lot of people are going to be surprised in November.”
Attorney Rick Vitali was at the event that day in October 2012 as well. Vitali has been a friend of President Joe Biden since 1987, doing advance work and traveling around the country for him during Biden’s 1988 presidential campaign.
“She was very impressive. I’ve seen a lot of elected people in person, and I’m personally close to Biden, but she was impressive, she was knowledgeable, and she seemed very confident in what she was saying and what she was doing.”
Vitali also served as a caucus coordinator in Iowa for Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“I think there’s a short period of time, so I think the Democrats would be wise to rally around her and not delay in getting all full support for her,” Vitali said. “The sooner the better.”
