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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Creepy, revisited

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!

11 comments:

  1. I believe, per the SFBG article, that Malia answered and made this all public, I am sure that is not easy thing do do.

    Saying that, Cohen, Sweet and Kelly are three of the four leading candidates per the polls. The fourth, as you mentioned, had nothing in the packet and of course that would be Mr. Moss.

    I am hoping D10 voters put this all together and take note of Moss, his very sketchy history, lack of factual statements countering anything and attempt to buy this election with his rich Republican friends.

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  2. Just another case of losership, not leadership. She bought a house in 2006 and immediately tried to refinance? Admittedly, contracts are not easy to read. She's been working with lawyers at City Hall for a decade but wasn't smart enough to ask one to read the documents before she signed them? She's a college graduate? I have a better explanation. She bought a house she couldn't afford, tried to pull a financial fast one, lost it to foreclosure, and then is trying to blame someone else. Check out the key words. "Predatory" "lost my paperwork" "housing counselor"

    D10 Supervisor? No way. Professional victim? Absolutely.

    "During the apex of the economic boom, I was the recipient of a predatory loan,” Cohen explained. “I bought a house in the Bayview in 2006 and started the process to modify my home loan. It took one year to get the banks to answer my questions, my paperwork has been lost, and I have a housing counselor I’m working with.”

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  3. Since you mentioned it, what was the loan amount for the house in 2006? How much did she put down as a deposit?

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  4. I think voters are super weary of all this guano and will want to focus on stickball. With the local SF franchise in a major competitive Series, voters' attention to politicians is pretty much nil.

    It's all stickball henceforth. Who's going to attend any forum or even scrutinize the D10 race and last-minute dirt when people and likely the D10 cands prefer to watch HDTV or be at a beverage venue with proletariats? The D10 race is washed up. No more confabulating about D10 at the agua cooler....folks'll be talkin' stickball!

    No D10 candidate can compete with stickball. Time to close up shop. Concede to the beard!

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  5. Tongue in cheek, or chew in cheek - nothing could be farther from the truth. The election is but 8 days away. Volunteers (paid or otherwise) are out and may folks think the race will be won or lost in the last days. If your candidate is watching tv or eating a dog and garlic fries at the park it just shows how little s/he wants to win. The others are out hustling. As for "the people," I think you'd be very surprised how interested they are in this election. Besides, the first game's not until Wednesday.

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  6. You could always steal like Moss, I meant my application fell though the cracks, hmmm.

    At least Malia was honest.

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  7. Perhaps the only way to keep the human specimen from watching pandas, freaks, and that guy with the dyed beard, is for media and bloggers to publish some serious dirt, maybe with no substantiation. Seems like Moss ("I can see AT&T from my backyard") and Sweet are good targets. Lacy probably wouldn't notice since he's known to focus on sport.

    Go dirt!

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  8. Interesting how the 2nd commenter wanted to focus on Malia, when the real juicy topic is: who sent the rap sheets on other candidates? Who plays dirty? You don't see true local candidates back-stabbing each other. They know at the end of the day that they're all neighbors, and they'll need each other's support after the election. The only kind of candidate who would do this is someone who doesn't have deep roots in the community, who doesn't have close relationships with community leaders. Think about it.

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  9. "You don't see true local candidates back-stabbing each other." I for one can't wait until this parade of dreamers has passed.


    As for the "message" between the lines, give it a rest. You're beating a dead horse. If anyone still cared about "I've lived here longer so I care more...blah, blah, blah,..." you'd be reading it elsewhere. Since you're not, they don't.

    KnowwhatImean?

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  10. The foreclosure thing is a drag! And it is actually one of the reasons I am supporting Kristine Enea. My husband and I almost purchased a house we could not afford. The bank was ready to give us the money (and this was 3 months ago!!) going through and signing all of the paperwork in the required time frames was enough to make my head explode.
    The agent told us there was no problem in getting our earnest money back if changed our mind - we had our friend (who is an attorney) read the paperwork and said, guess what if the developer wants to keep your $25k you have NO recourse.

    I feel for Ms. Cohen, and it is the buyers responsibility to do their DUE DILIGENCE. If we believed the bank, the agent etc - we would be having a nervous breakdown.

    We all make mistakes, and I don't hold that against her - it just illuminates an area where she needs to build a little more muscle.

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  11. I hope a supervisor would never sign something they don't fully comprehend.

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