ISSUE #12 – I cared about foreclosures after I didn’t.

On April 19, at the Farm Team Debate, McAuliffe was asked about foreclosures and said, “So as governor my top concern is, which I talk about my business plan, is to provide funds to keep people in their homes.”

THE FACTS

Apparently Mr. McAuliffe had a conversion when it comes to foreclosures.

When asked about foreclosures on February 20, Terry McAuliffe made it clear that foreclosures were a federal problem, not something that he would or could do anything about:

Mark Plotkin: But I want to get specific with you, Terry McAuliffe. In terms of, if you’re governor, what do you do by executive order, or what do you do by legislation to stop the foreclosure rate?

Terry McAuliffe: Well, first all, the federal government has taken this. This is Barack Obama’s biggest thing. So you’re just going to piggy back on what the federal government is doing.

- Mark Plotkin’s Politics Show, February 20, 2009.

In fact, when asked FIVE TIMES, he refused to even admit that the state government had a role in ending the foreclosure crisis.

Mark Plotkin: (1) Home foreclosures: what would you do in addition to what the federal government is doing? How many home foreclosures have there been in the Commonwealth of Virginia? Do you know?

Terry McAuliffe: Well yeah one in six. It’s the same as the national average, basically, 1 in 6. Which is even worse because the foreclosed are done.

Plotkin: (2) What would you do to stop the foreclosures?

McAuliffe: I’ve always said this – we need to keep people in their homes. The worst thing you can do is take away someone’s home away from them. It’s their single biggest asset. And I can tell you when I was in the banking business, you take a home back: it costs the bank $40,000 to go through all the legal and the...

Plotkin: (3) So do you want a moratorium on foreclosures in Virginia?

McAuliffe: Let me finish. …We then own a property that’s going down in value ‘cause no one is living in it. If we keep people in their homes I think we’ve got to put a floor on it. If we’ve got to extend the interest rates out I think, number one, and I have mentioned this to President Obama, number one issue, you have got to keep people in their homes because ultimately it is what is going to bring our economy back. The second thing we have to do is get these credit windows open. Right now, banks aren’t lending. This new gigantic government money’s going in, and they’re trying to build up their capital. That is not the intent of it. Now, we’ve got to make sure it’s credit-worthiness. We got into this mess because of Frannie… Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and all that, and no one’s hands were clean on that. They put too much money out there. They shouldn’t have gone out and put it in the hands of people who shouldn’t have had it.

Plotkin: (4) But I want to get specific with you, Terry McAuliffe. In terms of, if you’re governor, what do you do by executive order, or what do you do by legislation to stop the foreclosure rate?

McAuliffe: Well, first all, the federal government has taken this. This is Barack Obama’s biggest thing. So you’re just going to piggy back on what the federal government is doing.

Plotkin: (5) There’s nothing in terms of the plan that you would do more to protect homeowners than what is in the plan?

McAuliffe: Well if I was fortunate enough to be elected, it’s going to be next January and hopefully what President Obama and they have just done with the stimulus package will stop the high rate of foreclosures going on. I’d have to deal with that. But my overall premise, Mark, will be everything I can do to work together to keep people in their homes – it’s their biggest asset, we want them to have it, taking it away from them, they then go out on food stamps or they then have issues. Society pays for them. You own a piece of property that goes down in value. That’s not smart business.

- Mark Plotkin’s Politics Show, February 20, 2009.