Barack Obama is getting flak for tapping Jim Johnson as part of his running mate search team. Johnson, you may have heard, has ties to a subprime lender.
James Johnson, one of three people tapped by Mr. Obama recently to oversee the search for his running mate, took at least five real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corp. through an informal program for friends of the company’s CEO, Angelo Mozilo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Journal said at least two of the mortgages, among a series of loans made available to people Countrywide officials called “friends of Angelo,” were at rates below market averages, though it is difficult to predict a market rate without access to nonpublic information about a borrower’s credit history and other factors that can reduce interest charges on a loan.
Among the loans to Mr. Johnson, according to the Journal, were a $5 million home equity line of credit against a house in Ketchum, Idaho, a 5.25% loan of $1.3 million for a home in Palm Desert, Calif., and a 3.875% loan of $971,650 for a home in Washington, D.C. The interest rates applied for the first five years of the loans.
“That reeks most high,” a public relations specialist and vocal critic of Mr. Mozilo, Bonnie Russell of Del Mar, Calif., said. “Where’s the ‘change to believe in’ if they’re playing the same old game using the same old players?”
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has criticized Countrywide’s executives. “These are the people who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis. Two million people may end up losing their homes,” Mr. Obama said in March at a town hall meeting in Lancaster, Pa.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the senator from Illinois “fumed” over a total of $19 million in bonuses set to be paid to Mr. Mozilo and the president of Countrywide, David Sambol. “They get a $19 million bonus while people are at risk of losing their home. What’s wrong with this picture?” Mr. Obama asked.
In a written statement issued in March, the senator called the payments “an outrage” and suggested Mr. Mozilo and others had “tricked” homeowners into unaffordable loans. “These executives crossed the line to boost their bottom line,” Mr. Obama declared.
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Danny Diaz, yesterday called the loans to Mr. Johnson “highly questionable” and said they conflicted with Mr. Obama’s public comments. “Barack Obama needs to immediately address this matter; otherwise, his rhetoric will continue to prove to be nothing more than complete hypocrisy,” Mr. Diaz said.
In response, Camp Obama has release talking points, charging that the story is “overblown.”
I’m sure if Barack Obama was caught on video tape accepting a bribe, that would be “overblown,” “irrelevent,” and/or a “distraction.” too.
RNC spokeswoman Liz Mair released the following statement in response to Obama pathetic talking points.
In view of both his own rhetoric and his own personal history with regard to housing deals, Barack Obama should know better than to try to dampen down discussion of Jim Johnson and his dealings with Countrywide with claims of this story being ‘overblown.’ If Obama wanted to demonstrate the kind of forthright leadership Americans expect to see in their would-be Commander in Chief, he would answer voters’ questions rather than attempting to duck or dismiss them.
UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Just an observation…Hillary “suspended” her campaign, right? Well, I think that she knew about this sort of thing via oppo research. Could it be that she’s just waiting for Obama to implode over the next six weeks and then organise a floor fight (without her fingerprints, of course) at the convention to dump Obama and pick her? Time will tell…
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