It is clear that our current financial crisis is the direct result of irresponsible subprime lending practices developed by Countrywide Financial and other such predatory lenders. Fanning the flames of this crisis are skyrocketing gas prices and increased costs all over the country. New Jersey’s Fifth Congressional District has certainly been hit hard as Americans everywhere face foreclosures, exorbitant prices, and an overall struggle to provide for their families.

One would expect his or her representative to actively work to dig us out of this disaster. Yet my opponent Scott Garrett, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, has stood with the industries he is supposed to oversee. While his constituents are forced to choose between putting food on their tables or filling their gas tanks, a former Countrywide Financial lobbyist literally controls Garrett’s office as his Chief of Staff, and the lender held his mortgage until relatively recently. More so, he has taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from Big Oil and, in turn, gave the oil and gas industry billions of dollars in tax breaks.

When I’m in Congress, I will never put Countrywide Financial and Big Oil above the citizens I represent. That is why I have pledged to never take campaign contributions from an industry I’m supposed to oversee.

Yesterday, as investment banks were failing as a direct result of this subprime mortgage debacle, my campaign called on Scott Garrett to give an accounting of his record on the House Financial Services Committee and to answer questions about his personal finances.

Countrywide Financial is widely recognized as having been the company at the forefront of these shady lending practices, practices that are bringing down generations-old investment banks and threatening to further derail the economy. So why then did Scott Garrett vote consistently in favor of Countrywide Financial’s desired positions – was it because he refinanced his mortgage with the lender in May 2003 (a time during which Countrywide was giving congressmen with oversight responsibilities sweetheart deals)? Why did he vote against anti-predatory lending bills and put Countrywide’s former lobbyist on the taxpayers’ payroll as his Chief of Staff? And will he take responsibility for this economic disaster that occurred under his watch?

Unlike Garrett, I know that we can do better than this mess. And I will actively work to find pragmatic solutions to these problems, rather than throwing my constituents under the bus to serve the interests of the mortgage and oil & gas industries.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Politics, Economy/Budget, Campaign .