California congresswoman Laura Richardson, a superdelegate pledged to Hillary Clinton, raised eyebrows this week after it was reported she skipped out on her mortgage. CapitolWeekly reported Richardson walked away from the mortgage on her $535,000 Sacramento home, letting the house slip into foreclosure. She had purchased the home 2 years earlier with no money down. The former owner said the house became an eyesore.While being elevated to Congress in a 2007 special election, Richardson apparently stopped making payments on her new Sacramento home, and eventually walked away from it, leaving nearly $600,000 in unpaid loans and fees.
Richardson's decision to let the house slip into foreclosure was set in motion by an unlikely chain of events, only some of which had to do with Sacramento's crumbling real estate market. Richardson was elected to the Assembly in November 2006, and purchased her new capital home two months later. But in April 2007, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald succumbed to cancer, creating a Congressional vacancy in Richardson's district.
Richardson declared her candidacy for the seat, and soon found herself locked in a hotly contested, and very expensive race for Congress against state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach.
While her campaign heated up, Richardson's house slipped into default.
Richardson fell behind on her mortgage payments as she loaned her Congressional campaign $60,000 –money that has begun to be paid back to Richardson personally from her campaign account, according to records from the Center for Responsive Politics.
So Richardson decided to use her money to fund her election instead of paying her debts. Irresponsible.
.
The former owner, Sharon Helmer, says Richardson never took care of the house after Helmer sold it to her.
"The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her," said Sharon Helmar, who sold the home to Richardson. "She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."
Paying your debts are for the little people, not for important superdelegates who get their picture taken with Nancy Pelosi..
Michelle Malkin notes Richardson has a condo in Long Beach. Real estate records show she purchased that house in 1999 for $135,000. An estimate from Zillow.com puts the current value of that house at $474,000.”
.
Does it warm your heart that this deadbeat has gone to Washington where she can be reckless not only with her own money, but taxpayer's money too. And, as a superdelegate, her judgment will be used to help the Dems choose their presidential candidate.
Hat tip: JammieWearingFool
.
UPDATE: Richardson has issued a "clarification."
