Since 2005, Chris Van Hollen has supported measures that benefit Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). In March 2008, he cosponsored H.R. 1147, the REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act. The real estate industry consistently ranks in Van Hollen's top five campaign contributors, including REITPAC, the political action committee of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT).
Van Hollen's former finance director, Lindsay Mark Lewis, was recently named the senior manager of REITPAC. Lewis has also raised funds for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that Van Hollen currently chairs.
With such a clear and convincing nexus between Van Hollen's official actions as a member of Congress and his campaign and DCCC contributions, his objectivity must be called into question. Dr. Steve Hudson said, "What we are interested in knowing is why he didn't see the subprime issue coming, and if he did, how could he stand by and watch his constituents lose their homes while mortgage lenders and REITs scored windfall profits?"
In a November 2007 interview with Roll Call, Van Hollen emphasized that the mortgage crisis could play out as a winner for him. "You are already hearing candidates talk about it," Van Hollen said. Instead of proposing legislation to fix the problem, Van Hollen was happy with the "status quo" of the housing crisis because of its potential political value. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of American homeowners suffered.
In 2005, Chris Van Hollen criticized the House leadership for having "decided to put a host of special interests ahead of the interests of the American people." However, in 2006 Van Hollen ranked 12th among House members who are dependent on special interest groups in a report by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. Hudson continued "It should be unconscionable to the residents of Maryland's 8th District that he is able to spout this kind of rhetoric and do exactly the opposite of what he preaches, especially in the business of real estate."
While Van Hollen was relaxing during a week-long break from his duties as a member of Congress over the July 4th holiday recess, the New York Times estimated that another 55,000 homes sank into foreclosure over the past week.
The Gazette recently reported that "home foreclosures are skyrocketing in Montgomery County, jumping six-fold over the last year, hitting Silver Spring, Germantown, Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village the hardest, according to a recently released state report. Foreclosure activity in Montgomery County - defined as mortgage defaults, sales of foreclosed home and lender purchases of foreclosed homes - jumped nearly 800 percent in the last year, up from 183 events in the first quarter of 2007 to 1,646 events for the first quarter of this year, according to May 2008 foreclosure report from the state Department of Housing and Community Development."
In Maryland, Montgomery County trails only Baltimore City and Prince George's County in foreclosures, according to the Metropolitan Council of Governments. The 8th District includes Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties, both foreclosure epicenters.
Now, after labeling the mortgage crisis as a political winner, Van Hollen claims that he is "working to remedy the lending crisis that has resulted in thousands of Americans losing their homes and that has wreaked havoc in the lives of families across the country."
Hudson concluded, "During Van Hollen's three terms in Congress, home prices skyrocketed while he heavily supported special interests in the real estate industry. His campaign coffers grew along with the housing bubble."
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Paid for by Hudson for Congress
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