Congressman Who Harassed Elizabeth Warren Showered With Donations From Banks And Predatory Lenders

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

Congressman Who Harassed Elizabeth Warren Showered With Donations From Banks And Predatory Lenders
By Lee Fang on Jul 18, 2011 at 2:10 pm

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) gained infamy in May when he went on a childish tirade against Professor Elizabeth Warren, who is currently setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a special adviser to President Obama. McHenry, a former College Republican hack, repeatedly accused Warren of lying about the agreed-upon time for testimony she gave before Congress.

According to a ThinkProgress analysis of new campaign finance data released on Friday, McHenry received $63,800 from lobbyists and executives from banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, pawn shop executives, and other predatory lenders in the last three months alone. Notably, much of the campaign donations from payday lenders came on a single day, April 20, 2011:

– Advance America PAC: $10,000 on 4/20/11
– Dennis Bassford, CEO of the Seattle-based payday lender MoneyTree: $4,600 on 4/20/11
– Sarah Bassford: $2,700 on 4/20/11
– Community Financial Services Association of America PAC (trade association for payday lenders): $5,000 on 4/20/11
– Checksmart Financial LLC PAC, an Ohio-based payday lender: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– A. David Davis, CEO of Ohio-based payday lender Check-n-go: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Jared Davis, CEO of Ohio-based payday lender Axcess Financial: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Roger Dean, CFO of Axcess Financial: $500 on 4/20/11
– EZCORP PAC, a Texas-based payday lender: $2,000 on 4/20/11
– Natl Pawnbrokers Assoc. PAC: $2,000 on 4/20/11

The surge of payday lender money to McHenry on a single day suggests the congressman had a campaign party with opponents of Warren. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tasked with policing and regulating dozens of predatory lending practices. A few weeks after the predatory lending campaign money started flowing to McHenry, he used the hearing with Warren to berate a leading consumer advocate.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/07/18/271075/mchenry-predatory-payday/

[Plucketeer]

1. We really shouldn't be surprized

Even lower forms of life take care of their own.

[libodem]

2. fucking bastard

[Bryn]

3. This should be illegal

but it's allowed. Ugh! Greedy people in politic really hurt the people.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Congressman showered with Elisabeth. Wow. Let's tell Murdoch

(if he'll pay).

Sell to FucksNewz. Just so long as they're paying

for the advertising

vehicle.

Who cares? It's all (short-term) money.

Hang on. Elisabeth who? This one?



or... this one?



Mr. Mud?

Which would sell more, make more for you, sir?
















(since, you say, that's all that matters).


... Maybe, Lachlan knows



More than sweet baby James.



Sir.





(I (Ghost Dog) apologise for the interruption

to normal service. Were you attempting to talk about something, you know, like, socio-politically serious (but, no money in it) there?.


See, how that works?


:hi:

[RedCloud]

59. +1!

[MadMaddie]

5. Note that most of them are PayDay lenders

if she gets her way they go out of business...this tell us alot.

[SaveAmerica]

49. Ironically, I believe this lending is illegal in NC, home of this freak Congressman (McHenry)

[Brother Buzz]

62. North Carolina was the first state in the country to close down a once legal payday lending industry

[MadMaddie]

68. They prey on Military families but no one talks about that

[Dawson Leery]

6. Note that most of these donations are from "Pay-Day Loan" hustlers.

[BlueCaliDem]

7. Republican bad behavior is rewarded by Corporate America against a person for the people

of America.

I wish this shit just stopped.

[banned from Kos]

8. Dodd-Frank threatens these bastards - no question.

It has Resolution Authority in it - any TBTF institution may be dissolved if it falls below minimum capital standards THAT DAY.

[defendandprotect]

11. We need Glass-Steagall back -- and total re-regulation of capitalism ...

without reregulation of capitalism we're merely dealing with

organized crime --

That's what the NEW DEAL did -- it stopped the crimes of capitalists --

De-regulation jump-started those crimes again -- !!




:hi:

[banned from Kos]

13. We have Glass Steagall back - its just not called that anymore

Its called the Volcker Rule - which limits crazy bank bets to 3% of Tier One capital.

Some said OMG! They get to risk 3%!

Other said GREAT! They can only risk 3%!!!!


But nevertheless, 3% is unlikely to crush a bank - and they must be allowed some risk to offset IR markets.

[dflprincess]

16. We're not anywhere near having Glass-Steagall back

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_Act

Some provisions of the Act, such as Regulation Q, which allowed the Federal Reserve to regulate interest rates in savings accounts, were repealed by the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980. Provisions that prohibit a bank holding company from owning other financial companies were repealed on November 12, 1999, by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act.<2><3>

The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act effectively removed the separation that previously existed between Wall Street investment banks and depository banks. Some experts believe that this repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 2007–2010 by allowing banks to gamble with their depositors' money.....

....On January 21, 2010, President Barack Obama proposed bank regulations similar to some parts of Glass–Steagall in limiting certain of banks' trading and investment capabilities. The proposal was dubbed "The Volcker Rule",<33> for Paul Volcker, who has been an outspoken advocate for the reimplementation of some aspects of Glass–Steagall<34> and who appeared with Obama at the press conference in support of the proposed regulations.

However, in May 2010, Volcker, in an interview with BBC Business Editor Robert Peston, said that he was not advocating a return to Glass–Steagall or a complete separation between investment and commercial banking.<35> In a May 2010 interview with Alternet, economist Nouriel Roubini described the "Volcker Rule" as insufficient and "essentially Glass-Steagall-Lite," allowing conflicts of interest to remain and for financial entities to become too big to fail, a model he described as a disaster, and stated, "We need to go all the way and implement the kind of restrictions between commercial banking and investment banking that existed under Glass-Steagall."

In Mainland Europe, notably in France, Germany, and Italy, an increasing number of think-tanks are calling for the adoption of stricter bank regulation through new national and EU-wide legislations based on the Glass–Steagall Act.

[banned from Kos]

24. Dr. Doom (Roubini) said that in May 2010 and never proposed an alternative

We got Glass-Steagall "light" due to the JUST SAY NO! party.

Still, it limits bank investments to 3% of Tier One capital!!!!

Take a victory when you can! The GOP will cut throats!

[defendandprotect]

26. Interesting how successful the GOP is when it's the minority -- or the majority!!

and vice versa for the Democrats -- i.e, how UNSUCCESSFUL they are whether

the majority or the minority -- !!

hmmm........


:evilgrin:

[banned from Kos]

29. But there were porous holes in the old Glass Steagall.

For instance, Lehman, Bear, Merrill, WaMu, Wachovia, AIG, Fannie, Freddie, Countrywide, etc were all EXEMPT!

Why? They did not combine I-banking with commercial banking!

Glass-Steagall is an excuse - like the CRA is an excuse on the right wingnut side.

[plumbob]

34. And of course, it's a victory against the bankers - that's why they sent

the money, to show they're good losers??!!




Right?

[defendandprotect]

50. Lifting Glass Steagall jump started new crime wave ---

[plumbob]

33. There's an alternative, of course. Eliminate banking as an industry

altogether.

I haven't done business with one since 1978 - no loans, accounts, savings, checking or otherwise, CDs, nothing at all, not from banks, not from credit unions.

Haven't missed them a moment, and I've gotten many more of the things I really wanted in life because of it.

[defendandprotect]

52. How did you do it ?

Can you imagine the banks' reaction if Social Security checks didn't go out

due to the debt "crisis" --

They all go into automatic deposits to banks now -- !!

[plumbob]

60. Cash for everything, owner finance. Starts out as inconvenient, but

the difference in costs is unreal.

For example, buy a house for a rental property from an elderly widow who's going to assisted living. She's not ALLOWED to have a great sum of cash, but income is okay. So, the house for a little less than 120k, nothing down, no inspections, all as is, total closing cost is the legal fee of $450 plus $68 filing fee and take possession.

3 bedroom rental in this market in west Texas very difficult to find, very desirable. Rent to couple who's been on a waiting list for 6 months - they will do all the labor to paint and prep the house for occupancy themselves, after they give you first and last month's rent and a security deposit, all total about $5,000, which will cover paint, new dishwasher, new vinyl and carpet floors throughout.

In 30 days, your regular rental income begins at $1500 per month, and you owe $932 to the lady you bought it from. Total up-front expense $518 at the lawyer office, and your positive cash flow begins in 30 days of nearly $600 per month net or $7200 per year on a total investment of $120,000, roughly 6% per year.

Do this five or six times a decade, and it begins to add up over time.

[defendandprotect]

63. Real estate -- !!

[plumbob]

67. Rentals - medium range. When times are good and housing is short,

suitable for anyone to live in without cringing.

When times are bad, affordable enough to live in when owning goes bad.

Rule of thumb: make sure that enough units are paid off so that even with 50% occupancy rate, there is double the cash needed to make payments on the ones still owing. That is a bond of trust with the individual carrying the note for you.

In reality, we're at 100% rental with more than a dozen people on waiting lists and have been since the mid-90s.

What's the worst that can happen when you own some paid for real estate? Your kids have a place to come to if they hit a financial bump AND without having to move in with you ;)

In 40 years, you can end up with several dozen properties with little turnover and great tenants and a network scouting for you for new ones, because you treated people right.


Too smug sounding, sorry.

[defendandprotect]

27. Agree ... and see Galbraith comments on how that lack enabled the financial coup ....

called a "meltdown" --


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1469619

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1471690&mesg_id=1471690

[plumbob]

32. Thank you.

Nothing less than a complete separation of investment from commercial banking will do.

[banned from Kos]

37. No - you don't understand banking - a bank 97% invested long

in the community must be allowed to manage risk against a drastic downturn.

Maybe they short 3% to offset risk? That is a good thing.


Importantly, they are regulated and not allowed to risk all the deposits in one direction.

[AlbertCat]

45. you don't understand banking

Don't bring up that old excuse...


Apparently banks don't understand banking either, or we wouldn't have had to bail them out.

I don't understand GAMBLING with MY DEPOSIT.... without my permission.

[defendandprotect]

64. +1000% ---

[plumbob]

47. I have a degree in economics. I worked as a bank operations manager from 1966-1978.

The way to offset risk is to make good loans to people you know, instead of using the black box methods like FICO and outside loan originators.

No shorts should be allowed. The mere presence of a chance to make money by failing is to ensure failure occurs. Much more difficult to make money by succeeding and so it is perfectly acceptable for banks to fail. Depositors are covered by insurance, and that's okay. They made none of the decisions about what the bank chose to do with their money, and so they should be held harmless, most especially since they share in none of the profits.

Banks are a service industry and for the better part of 200 years, 2% return on assets was considered excellent. Those who craved more excitement were free to risk their own money in riskier enterprises. I left banking and all their "services" behind in 1978, along with all their fees and charges. I've had nothing to do with them since, nor credit unions, either.

All derivatives are a moral hazard. Any short position is a moral hazard. People who are no good at their jobs deserve to have none. Incompetent gamblers with a safety net they don't pay for got us here. Time to bring back some folks actually interested in building something, including the communities around them, so as to prevent these drastic downturns, rather than causing them to make money for themselves.

[klook]

58. "Incompetent gamblers with a safety net they don't pay for got us here."

That pretty much sums it up. Thanks.

[defendandprotect]

65. Elites know that "risks" make bigger profits -- just as they know the value of OPM ...

We are subsidizing their risks --

that has to end --

New Deal was about ending capitalism's crimes --

Deregulation of capitalism jump-started their crimes again --


Unregulated capitalism is merely organized crime --

[plumbob]

70. Organized crime indeed. Adam Smith pointed out that business collusion

is common and invisible, but worker combinations? OMG!


Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular combinations to sink the wages of labour even below this rate. These are always conducted with the utmost silence and secrecy till the moment of execution; and when the workmen yield, as they sometimes do without resistance, though severely felt by them, they are never heard of by other people" In contrast, when workers combine, "the masters..never cease to call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with so much severity against the combination of servants, labourers, and journeymen."

Wealth of Nations, Book I. Chap. viii

Then when we actually make business' risky bets good, the circle is complete, that is, a noose around the necks of the rest of us.

[ooglymoogly]

44. +1 nt

[Enthusiast]

53. I think this would be a wise move by Europe.

If they can keep corporate dominance to a minimum they will come out all right.

[dflprincess]

69. And once again will prove that "old Europe" (remember when that was the phrase du jour)

is way ahead of "new" U.S.

[ooglymoogly]

43. And that my friend is the crux of the matter. nt

[KamaAina]

9. Actually, McHenry gained infamy long before that

there is the slight matter of the deadly love triangle he's into up to his armpits.

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2820

The events on the record are noteworthy enough for the MSM to investigate at this point, because the office of right-wing Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has gone on the record tying the pol to the shooting. Howie Klein, making a serious charge:

As we mentioned yesterday, Drake, a former marine, also is alleged to have a strong relationship-- both intimate and business/political-- with right-wing Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC). When I spoke to McHenry's office about this they at first insisted they never heard of Drake then, confronted with specifics, admitted they know him. They refused to put Congressman McHenry on the phone. There is every indication that McHenry may have been one of the Republican elected officials who was using the services of the gay prostitution agency connected to Drake. Our pals over at the BradBlog points out the connections between Florida's ultra-corrupt, vote-tampering congressman, Tom Feeney, and Gonzalez and reports the threat to expose the list of Republican elected officials who were using the gay escort service.

Where will it go? Who knows, but with a story of this potential magnitude, the mainstream news media, which has the resources to investigate and uncover whether the thick smoke does or doesn't lead to fire, isn't biting.

[yardwork]

18. A true investigation into Patrick McHenry would make John Edwards look like a choir boy.

[Major Hogwash]

36. That's an interesting blend of coffee they are brewing over there.

I remember when the news of that scandal first broke out, all of a sudden little McHenry was minding his "p's and q's" trying to keep out of the public spotlight.

[defendandprotect]

10. Elizabeth Warren for president --

Better a candidate opposed by corporate money than a candidate

with corporate money in their pockets!

[Ikonoklast]

12. I forgot about that little shitweasel.

He's been real quiet lately, after looking the idiot at those hearings.

[TheDebbieDee]

41. ETA: Thank you, KamaAina for the link! (see post # 9)

Wasn't he the red-head that was somehow linked to or known by a victim in a murder-suicide in Florida in 2006 or 2007? The connection (if it existed) wasn't reported in the MSM but were widely speculated about here at DU.

Maybe I'm getting my redheads mixed up!

[DontTreadOnMe]

14. Folks, this story needs to be told EVERYWHERE

Our political system has become blatantly corrupt, it needs to be exposed and the criminals prosecuted.

[murielm99]

15. Is anyone running against him?

All the dirt needs to be exposed in a series of ads.

[yardwork]

19. The new Republican majority in NC is busily gerrymandering to make sure he's reelected.

[barbtries]

17. how is this shit legal.

i swear to gawd we're sinking faster than i ever thought i would witness in my lifetime. devolving too. it sucks.

[slay]

21. +1

it shouldn't be. we are about to be steamrolled by corporate money - things are only going to get worse i'm afraid after that horrible supreme court citizens united ruling. what a joke this country has turned into. a horrible, horrible joke.

[me b zola]

20. Imagine that

I don't know which is worse. If he were a douche bag that did it for money or a douche bag that did it for general douche baggery purposes.

[Scottybeamer70]

22. as long as this form of bribery is accepted in congress,

things can only get worse, never better.
What's the difference in these bribes and those going on in the UK and elsewhere?
Well, maybe the amounts, but the reasons are the same......pay and you get what you want.

[defendandprotect]

28. Exactly ... Dollar bill is source of illegitimate power and insane policy -- !!!

We need to uninvent the dollar bill --

and guess there are ways to begin to do that if the nation woke up to it!!


If capitalism and the dollar bill could be invented and moved into common usage

over a few hundred years -- it can be uninvented and put out of use!

[FreakinDJ]

23. Pawn Broker and PayDay Loan Sleeze Fest

sickening

[young_at_heart]

25. He may be my new congressman

Asheville is currently in District 11 but is in danger of being part of Patrick McHenry's District 10. “Insane.” “Biased.” “Cynical.” Those are just a few of the words outraged Western North Carolina residents used during a July 7 public hearing to describe a proposal to move most of Asheville to the 10th Congressional District, leaving roughly two-thirds of Buncombe County in the 11th District.

[Capitalocracy]

30. We'll see how much he gets today. That's just the up-front payment.

Now it's time to pay the bounty.

[russspeakeasy]

31. Visit NC for a couple weeks and you will meet the people who

elected him..

[Major Hogwash]

35. McHenry is small potatoes compared to the real power brokers of the GOP

He is just a "bought and paid for" mouthpiece, like most of the GOP House Republicans.

[graywarrior]

38. Awww, we should send him something, too!

[OwnedByFerrets]

39. K and R

[harun]

40. Corrupt Mother Effers.

[mod mom]

42. Isn't he the guy that was somehow involved in a love triangle muder?

[TheDebbieDee]

48. That's what I thought, too! I vaguely recall a murder-suicide

in Florida in which the victim or the murderer or both were linked to McHenry in some way. I think this was about 2006 or 2007.

[mod mom]

57. " murderous Republican homosexual love triangle/escort service."

Bob Fertik
September 01, 2007
GAY REPUBLICANSPATRICK MCHENRYREPUBLICANS
Former Rep. Mark Foley's lead defender, corrupt gay rightwing Republican Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is back in the news, and this could be the tawdriest Republican scandal ever. Howie Klein tells the story, which reads like the plot of a mystery:

it looks like there is a connection between McHenry and a murderous Republican homosexual love triangle/escort service.

The murdered gay Republicans include Ralph Reed's purported ex-lover, Ralph Gonzalez (former head of the rabidly homophobic Georgia Republican Party), David Abrami and McHenry guy-pal Robert Drake, the shooter. All three were found last week in a murder-suicide in an Orlando apartment. According to right-wing website, the North Carolina Conservative "All three men were active in Republican politics." They mention that Drake is "an associate" of McHenry's but don't define that. He is alleged to be an associate of quite a few younger men, some of whom are gay and some of whom are just gay-for-pay.

That's just the tip of the iceberg - read it all here. (And don't miss the comments.)

And if you like to solve mysteries, start digging because this one could be HUGE!

-snip
http://www.democrats.com/is-patrick-mchenry-involved-in-the-tawdriest-republican-scandal-ever%3F

[Smilo]

46. I want to send him something too...

but how do you package a big stinking pile of horse crap?

[Iwillnevergiveup]

51. Here's a nifty little website

http://republicansagainstpatrickmchenry.com/

[Rex]

54. Republican politicians are scum of the earth. They do nothing but

hurt society since they hate themselves and take it out on everyone around them.

[The Wizard]

55. And Patrick McHenrey

seems like a character from the Roman Empire just before the fall. The same can be said of most Republicans. All honorable men.

[No Elephants]

56. Bottom line. Our federal, state and local governments are bought and paid for and

the SCOTUS found no compelling reason to keep even more money out of elections. Neither did the FEC, approving of Super Pacs at the request of BOTH Democrats and Republicans when the ink on the opinion was barely dry.

No use taking a piecemeal approach and pretending it's anything but business as usual in places where marble tends to abound.

The only important question is what are we prepared to do about it, besides post and blab? If nothing, may as well have some respect for your own blood pressure and embrace it. The market has spoken; and it said "Plutonomy, please."

[Blue Owl]

61. Won't you join me for a verse or two of "America the Beautiful"?

:sarcasm:

[bullwinkle428]

66. The only shower that little shit-bag McHenry deserves would be

of the golden variety.