Caldwell
BATON ROUGE, La. (Legal Newsline) - Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is unhappy with a recent report that graded each state attorney general's handling of the nation's foreclosure crisis.
Caldwell received an "F" but claims answering the survey sent to his office by ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) would not accurately reflect his efforts to help homeowners with their mortgages.
"Our office has a solid commitment to act within the jurisdiction and power of the office to address this situation," said Caldwell, in his first year in office.
"We prepared and have sent a letter to ACORN which outlines our work in this area. We trust that ACORN will now appreciate our commitment to address the mortgage crisis and will reassess their grading."
Of the 18 attorneys general who receiving at least an A-minus, 16 were Democrats. Caldwell was one of four Democrats and 12 total attorneys general to be given F's.
Caldwell said his Public Protection Division did not believe the survey's line of questioning would allow Caldwell to showcase what his office has done and returned it uncompleted.
The nine areas were:
-Disclosure and transparency of mortgage servicing data;
-Injunction against foreclosure filings from predatory lenders;
-Curbing predatory lending with federal legislation;
-Establish a direct pipeline to assist borrowers in your state;
-Seek voluntary 60-day stay for distressed borrowers in assistance pipeline;
-Federal legislation to prevent foreclosures;
-Hold town hall hearings on foreclosures with community organizations;
-Pressure companies to come to table with community organizations; and
-Support legislative solutions in the state.
ACORN did not respond to a request for comment. It is the country's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families,and gave A-plusses to Illinois' Lisa Madigan, Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, Minnesota's Lori Swanson, Iowa's Tom Miller, New York's Andrew Cuomo and Massachusett's Martha Coakley.
In addition to Caldwell, those receiving F's were: Alabama's Troy King (R), Alaska's Talis Colberg (R), Hawaii's Mark Bennett (R), Maine's Steven Rowe (D), Montana's Mike McGrath (D), Nebraska's Jon Bruning (R), North Dakota's Wayne Stenehjem (R), Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett (R), South Carolina's Henry McMaster (R), South Dakota's Larry Long (R), and Vermont's William Sorrell (D).
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien via e-mail at john@legalnewsline.com.