A few weeks ago, I posted about the creepy piece of mail I'd received at my office regarding three candidates. I wasn't going to do anything exposé style, which is what I think the sender had intended, so all I did was inform the three candidates that I'd received them, and then mostly just sat on them. At the time, one of the issues, that of Ms Sweet's multiple tax liens on her home, had already been made public. Likewise, Tony Kelly had already addressed his theater company's tax problems here. So two of the three were old news. The third set of documents related to Ms Cohen's home foreclosure, but I'm not a news source that's here to break news, so since this was still in the realm of rumor in the media, I didn't think it my place to expose Ms Cohen's personal dirty laundry. However, now that she has publicly brought the issue to light, I can now mention all of these as the set of documents that I received that day.
Of course, a question immediately came to mind: who of the candidates would benefit from trying to smear three prominent candidates in this way, two of whom are moderates, and one who lives in Potrero Hill? Maybe it was sent to me by an overzealous supporter of another candidate. Maybe it was prepared and packaged up on the candidate's own kitchen table. Who knows? What I do know is that only one candidate took note of the fact that one of the debates was held at my workplace just one week before I received the smear package. So while I don't have any proof, I have a strong suspicion as to which Potrero Hill moderate, or an overzealous supporter of theirs, may have sent me that package.
As to Ms Cohen's foreclosure woe, I hope she has turned a corner with it. I don't understand the whole foreclosure process as well as I'd like, and hope never to have the opportunity to experience it as Ms Cohen and so many of our neighbors have. However, from what little I've read, it isn't easy to reverse a foreclosure once the bank has bought back the loan, so Ms Cohen could probably teach a course to those in her situation on how to do this. After getting the 'smear package' in the mail, my curiosity was naturally piqued, so I looked up online public records and found info on Ms Cohen's 2006 condo purchase, including the amount of the loan (it's amazing what's on the internet). Oddly, I also found a record online of the property being bought back by the bank on August 9th. Now, like I said, I don't understand the whole process, and haven't looked into this further, so I hope that maybe Ms Cohen can write in here in the comments section to clarify that part of this complex story. It's got to have been a wild ride, to be sure, especially when also trying to run for office. Best of luck, Malia!
