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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6905
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 09:28 pm: | 
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Clinton campaign manager was director for failed subprime lender
Maggie Williams, chief of staff for then U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton, testifies during Senate Whitewater hearings in this November 2, 1995 file photo. Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton said on February 10, 2008 that Williams has taken over from Patti Solis Doyle as her campaign manager. 1 month ago
from Reuters Pictures by REUTERS
by Glenn Thrush
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams, earned about $200,000 on the board of a Long Island subprime lender that charged prepayment penalties — a practice that Clinton, a critic of the subprime industry, now seeks to eliminate.
Williams, who took over the reins of Clinton’s campaign in early February, served as a director on the board of the Woodbury, N.Y.-based Delta Financial Corp. from April 2000 until the firm declared bankruptcy in December, according to Securities and Exchange Commission records.
She was originally recruited by former New York City Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, a Delta consultant. Her assignments were to create a new code of “best practices,” and to improve the company’s crisis management operation in the wake of state and federal predatory lending probes that resulted in a $12 million payout to borrowers.
Her hiring coincided with stepped-up Delta outreach efforts in minority communities, where the company made a large number of its loans, an initiative that included parties for homeless children and mortgage seminars in Brooklyn and Queens.
Williams, 53, isn’t the only Clinton insider who made money from an industry the candidate has demonized. A month ago, The Wall Street Journal reported that Clinton ally and former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros grossed more than $5 million in stock sales and board compensation from Countrywide Financial, one of the nation’s largest subprime lenders.
Once a poster child for predatory practices, Delta’s reputation improved substantially until its recent travails, as executives eschewed adjustable-rate mortgages for more stable fixed-rate loans, which have fewer defaults.
To boost revenue in the absence of high-profit adjustable loans, the company charged relatively steep interest rates — 11 percent in 2007 — and levied higher-than-prime-loan closing costs.
And Delta assessed prepayment penalties for borrowers who paid off before their loans matured — a practice Clinton frequently decries on the campaign trail.
“I would eliminate the prepayment penalties that lead to such high rates of default,” Clinton said in a March 24 speech at the University of Pennsylvania. “I would require lenders to take into account the borrower’s ability to pay property taxes and insurance fees when deciding whether to make a loan in the first place.”
Subprime loans come with higher interest rates and are offered to borrowers with poor credit. That lending took off during the housing boom and is one of the underlying causes of the current credit crisis.
Williams downplayed her role at the company, saying, through her assistant, that she served only in “an advisory/oversight capacity.”
In a statement released through Clinton’s campaign, Delta senior vice president Marc Miller said Williams “did not have a role in the day-to-day operations and management.”
Calls to Delta executives, board members and their bankruptcy lawyer weren’t returned. The company’s switchboard and Web site have been deactivated in the last few days.
Williams turned down repeated requests to be interviewed, although her assistant, Amee Patel, provided brief responses to several written questions by e-mail.
Asked if she shared her experiences in the industry with Clinton, Patel responded, “She generally does not discuss her business, board memberships or organizational affiliations with the Senator.”
For her services on the board, Williams was paid around $30,000 per year plus expenses and granted at least 25,000 stock options, according to the SEC.
Records show she was able to cash in some of the options, realizing a profit of about $15,000 during a temporary uptick in Delta’s stock price in July 2007.
“She lost remaining options due to the company bankruptcy,” Patel wrote in an e-mail.
A month later, in August 2007, Delta was hit by a sudden contraction of the credit markets and began a first wave of layoffs. By year’s end, the company had laid off all but 50 of its 1,350 employees after bailout attempts failed and the credit crisis deepened.
Like many African-American leaders, Williams, who served as Hillary Clinton’s top White House adviser from 1993 to 1997, initially had high hopes subprime lending would offer homeowning opportunities to inner-city families long stymied by discriminatory bank practices.
Speaking to Directors & Boards magazine in June 2000, Williams said she excited about offering Delta’s home equity loans to working families trying to move into the middle class.
“There are people who miss payments and have bad credit for all kinds of reasons,” she said. “It is a very middle-American kind of problem, although I believe it does affect poor people disproportionately.”
In the article, Williams said her first tasks were building a new communications operation and learning the ins-and-outs of subprime lending from Hugh Miller, the company’s chief executive.
“Hugh was really my teacher in all of this,” she told the magazine.
If Williams was impressed by the Miller family, others remained skeptical of Delta’s reinvention, with some watchdog groups arguing the company continued to aggressively market high-fee loans to low-income borrowers, driving them deeper into debt.
“There was some improvement after the settlement, but they were still the most aggressive company,” said Matthew Lee, founder of the Bronx-based Fair Finance Watch, a nonprofit that monitors inner-city lending.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_campaign_manager_was_d.html |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6908
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 01:29 am: |
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Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Williams Difference
Williams joined Delta’s board less less than a month after one federal official said Delta’s practices were “turning the American dream of homeownership into a nightmare.”
At the time, Delta had a 5 percent foreclosure rate nationwide — double the industry standard — and was in the midst of settling several state and federal lawsuits that alleged predatory and discriminatory lending practices.
Williams, now 53, was between jobs with the Clintons when she got the overture to join the board at Delta. She had worked as the former first lady’s chief of staff from 1993 to 1997, and had just become president of Fenton Communications, one of the largest public relations shops in the country in 2000. It made her the highest-ranking African-American woman in a top 50 public relations firm in the country. Williams joined Bill Clinton’s Harlem office in 2001. She later became a partner in management consulting firm Griffin Williams.
The Clinton campaign did not return requests for comment from FOXNews.com, but according to a June 2000 article in Directors and Boards magazine, Williams spent the six months prior to her decision to join the board asking a lot of questions and making a flurry of calls to Hugh Miller, president and CEO of Delta Financial Corp.
It was the period of time when Delta was embroiled in the state and federal lawsuits. According to the magazine, Williams said she was convinced that the company was enabling individuals who would otherwise not qualify for mortgages to get loans.
“There are people who miss payments and have bad credit for all kinds of reasons,” she told the magazine. “It is a very middle-American kind of problem, although I believe it does affect poor people disproportionately.”
Miller told the magazine he was most attracted to Williams’ skill at anticipating “issues and problems before they come up and then develop(ing) a battle plan. It’s something that we’ve previously been remiss in doing.”
Delta company officials would not elaborate on Williams’ role other than to say that “like other board members, Ms. Williams served in an advisory and oversight role and did not have a role in the day-to-day operations and management of the company.” A 2002 annual report, the only one found with this figure, shows Williams attended at least 70 percent of the company’s board meetings.
Predatory Practices
Delta, which declared bankruptcy in December 2007, settled lawsuits with both federal and state regulators in 2000, before Williams’ era, but has maintained dubious lending practices, allege consumer advocates in New York and Philadelphia.
“They were one of the worst and most abusive sub-prime lenders in New York City,” said Josh Zinner, co-director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP).
Zinner helped bring a 1999 lawsuit against Delta Funding through the New York State Banking Department and then-state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office. The case was settled with an agreement that included $12 million in payouts to borrowers. It has been caught up in court ever since over the price tag.
A separate class action suit against Delta by some 67,000 New York borrowers in 1998 is also ongoing, according to attorneys for Lopez v. Delta Funding Corp. In that case, the company agreed to settle on claims that Delta violated federal and state statutes governing fair lending practices. The plaintiffs are appealing for additional restitution.
In March 2000, the federal government charged Delta with violating consumer protection and fair lending laws by approving and funding loans regardless of the borrowers’ ability to pay, paying unearned fees and kickbacks to brokers and disproportionately charging African-American females higher rates and fees than “similarly situated” white males.
The immediate settlement of the suit filed jointly by the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Housing and Urban Development did not result in restitution to anyone but an agreement by the company to adhere to stricter, fairer lending standards and to submit to greater governmental oversight.
Delta never admitted any wrongdoing in the New York or federal cases, and not everyone believes the company was as nefarious as the headlines made it out to be. Jonathan Pinard, a lending expert and president of the Empire State Mortgage Bankers Association, said Delta “stayed in the agreement” set out in the federal settlement and kept its nose clean. Later, when the sub-prime lending market went sour, Delta was “painted with a broad brush” as one of the bad guys, he said.
But since Williams joined the board, Ackelsburg has assisted clients embroiled in predatory lending schemes that involve Delta.
“(Delta) didn’t have as big a market share as they did in New York,” Ackelsberg said. “But the most unscrupulous brokers tended to work with Delta.”
He pointed to a near million-dollar settlement presided over by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in 2002, in which an African-American brokerage firm linked to Delta was found guilty of predatory lending and discriminatory practices in predominantly black Philadelphia neighborhoods.
In six of the cases named in the Taylor, Poindexter v. McGlawn & McGlawn and Reginald McGlawn lawsuit, the loans were signed with Delta Funding. At least four of the 10 loans had originated in 2000 or afterward.
Each of the individuals who received Delta loans through McGlawn & McGlawn also filed complaints with the PHRC against Delta Funding, according to commission sources. Those cases were all settled, but terms of the agreements are confidential. Delta officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment by FOXNews.com.
“I would say Delta Funding, in the ’90s in particular, sort of epitomized predatory lending,” said Zinner, who worked for the Foreclosure Prevention Project at South Brooklyn Legal Services at the time of the New York suit. After the 2000 settlement, Zinner said his group “didn’t get the high volume of calls (about Delta loans) … but we definitely got quite a few complaints.”
full article: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/29/as-clinton-talks-housing-crisis-campaign -manager-serves-on-board-of-bankrupt-lender/ |
Nels
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 1109
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 05:45 pm: |
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Something's not right about Williams. Ever since she took over Clinton's campaign, they've used race to repeatedly hit Barack Obama over and over again. There is something very sinister about her ethics and ambition, and that's what folks should take a closer look at. She's provided the Clinton's with cover from which they can attack Obama with relative impunity. What's Maggie really hiding. Bet you she's got some serious skeletons in her closet. Shall we take a closer look? |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11975
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 01:37 pm: |
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How about we stop trying to dig up dirt on the candidates and their staffs and, instead, concentrate on the issues. This tit-for-tat bickering is petty and counter-productive. |
Enchanted
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 1234
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 04:35 pm: |
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change of tone Cynique now that Tanyas
pelting Hillary an not Obama?
wheres all that defense of Tanyas rights
to post whatevr she wants go? |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11976
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 04:47 pm: |
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I have absolutely no problem with Tonya criticizing Hillary. Why would I? Tonya can criticize anybody she chooses just as I and anybody else are entitled to do. Of course you are apparently too stupid to comprehend this principle, "enchanted". |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11980
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 05:35 pm: |
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My beef with Nels had to do with how trying dig up dirt instead of focusing on the issues is getting old. But legitimate criticism of either Hillary or Barak is fair game |
Nels
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 1110
Registered: 07-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 09:19 pm: |
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"My beef with Nels"
No smoke and mirrors here. The dirt is there. Just keep on looking and you'll see guilt written right in it, finger deep. "Focusing on the issues" is the abstract equivalent of trying to redirect attention away from something that needs more of it. Yes, no ? Hmmm... |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11981
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 10:07 pm: |
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For me, it's time to stop looking backward and to go forward, time to concentrate on substance not skeltons. And this applies to both Hillary and Barak. Diggin up dirt does nothing but provide Republicans with grist for their mill. The ghosts of Democratic attacks on each other will come back to haunt them in the general election. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize this, just somebody who doesn't want 4 more years of Republican rule. |
Nels
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 1111
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 08:58 pm: |
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No one has ever said that all of the candidates are "dirt free". Of course we should all move forward, but that doesn't mean letting your behind hang over the wall so the dog's can just "reach out" and chomp away. The damage to the Democrats is already done, thanks to Hillary Clinton. Remember, Barack was on his way until Her Royal Ugliness Ms. Williams stepped into the fray. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11993
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 10:26 pm: |
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Sez you. You seem to be overlooking the inflammatory Rev. Wright. |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2805
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:03 pm: |
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For me, it's time to stop looking backward and to go forward, time to concentrate on substance not skeltons.
Agree 100%!
BTW, I have been on a news/election coverage "break" for more than a week. I cannot believe how my stress level has lowered during that time! I have felt like a new woman! LOL |
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