Category: Jennifer Paul
Government Intervention Best Bet to Reduce Foreclosures, N.H. Representatives Say
FORECLOSURE FINAL
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
12/9/08
WASHINGTON, D.C.—John Skiff nearly lost his home to foreclosure two years ago. Now he’s close to losing it again.
The Nashua retiree missed monthly mortgage payments on his four-bedroom house for the first time in 2006, after gaining legal custody of his seven grandchildren. Skiff said he had to make a choice between paying the mortgage and feeding and clothing the children.
“It isn’t anything we wanted to happen,” he said. “We just fell behind. The kids, they grow, and you have to get out there and get clothes.”
With the help of a pro bono legal clinic, Skiff filed for bankruptcy to halt the foreclosure and resumed making his monthly payments while paying back the debt that had accrued.
This year, Skiff fell behind again, giving his mortgage company the right to foreclose on the house for a second time. His foreclosure date has been set for Jan. 14, leaving Skiff unsure whether he will have to split his family up and send the children to foster care next month.
“It drains you some, when the whole month you’re wondering if you’re going to be here the next month,” said Skiff, 66, a retired shuttle driver and warehouse employee who relies on welfare checks, Social Security benefits and a small monthly pension to make ends meet. He said he can’t go back to work because his wife, Judy, has health problems and needs help caring for the children.
Skiff, who has a fixed-rate mortgage, is waiting to see if his mortgage company will voluntarily modify it to reduce his monthly payment.
As the economy worsens and job losses increase, homeowners who hold fixed-rate mortgages, like Skiff, are becoming a more common presence at New Hampshire housing clinics. The foreclosure crisis is no longer confined to those with subprime and adjustable-rate mortgages, housing experts say.
There were 333 foreclosures in New Hampshire in October, up from 211 during the same month in 2007, according to data provided by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority. The authority, which the state government established in 1981, predicts there will be more than 3,500 foreclosures in the state during 2008 – nearly 1,500 more than there were last year.
A push for help in Washington
The state’s two Democratic U.S. House members as well as housing experts say the foreclosure rate won’t slow unless the federal government moves to force lenders to restructure the terms of troubled mortgages.
“Folks in New Hampshire are kind of stoic,” Rep. Paul Hodes said. “We are used to being frugal and tightening our belts and helping each other, and at the same time, the statistics and the stories I’m hearing from folks in distress are telling the story.”
Hodes, along with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, has pledged to push for legislation that would compel lenders to rewrite mortgages to make them more affordable for distressed homeowners.
Last month, Hodes introduced a bill that would do just that. It is unlikely that the bill will be considered during a lame-duck congressional session in December, but Hodes promised to reintroduce the proposal when a new Congress convenes in January.
“I think this plan is a good start to a solution,” he said. “We need to provide a menu of options for working out [the mortgages of] homeowners in distress.”
Hodes’ proposal would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of debtors’ primary-residence mortgages. The provision would help people like Skiff, who file for bankruptcy to buy time to save their homes but end up defaulting again because they still cannot afford the amount of their monthly payments.
“When you just keep them locked into this same mortgage that they weren’t able to pay before they went into bankruptcy, how are they supposed to be able to pay it after bankruptcy plus the [debt from the missed payments]?” said Peter Wright, who is representing Skiff through a clinic at the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord. “It ends up just being a foreordained result where they’re going to fail.”
Banking industry leaders argue the change would increase the number of bankruptcy filings and heighten the risks for investors in primary-residence mortgages, resulting in higher fees and interest rates for new homeowners. That could result in mortgage rate increases of at least 1 percent, cautioned Ralph Coppola, president of the Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association of New Hampshire.
“Anyone that’s issuing mortgage funds, they’ll be further evaluating their costs and risk factors,” Coppola said. “We’d be concerned that it’s going to have an effect both on the cost to do a loan and the rate that the consumer is going to have…. I think it’s going to hurt the consumer and make the problem worse.”
Hodes dismissed the warning, saying an “unprecedented” economic crisis and an increasing number of foreclosures outweigh the concerns of industry leaders.
Hodes said he realizes that people who file for bankruptcy to save their homes face “serious consequences,” including blemished credit scores and financial limitations set by a budget issued by the bankruptcy court.
His bill, therefore, also calls for measures that are less damaging to homeowners, including a provision that would mandate lender participation in the government’s HOPE for Homeowners program, which was signed into law in July and took effect Oct. 1.
Borrowers who qualify for the program can refinance into fixed-rate, government-insured mortgages. The voluntary program, which had garnered fewer than 200 applications nationwide as of mid-November, has not been well-received by mortgage lenders, who must take a loss when they write down the principal of a loan as part of the program.
Although the government revised the program’s rules last month to entice more lenders to participate, Hodes said mandating lender participation is necessary to jump-start the program.
“The voluntary nature of it gives lenders and servicers an out,” he said. “I think we need to be more aggressive about it.”
A third option
Plans that force the hand of hesitant lenders aren’t the only foreclosure-reduction proposals that could come before Congress in January. Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, is shopping a plan that would use about $25 billion of government money to entice lenders to modify mortgages voluntarily.
The plan is similar to one the FDIC is using to rework mortgages held by IndyMac Bank, which the FDIC took over this summer after the bank failed. It would allow lenders to modify mortgages, reducing payments to as low as 31 percent of borrowers’ income, by lowering interest rates, reducing the principal of the loan or extending the time a borrower has to repay the loan. The government would pay lenders $1,000 per modified mortgage and would absorb up to half of the losses on mortgages where borrowers default for the second time.
Hodes and Shea-Porter said they support the plan. Although Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he wouldn’t use money from the bailout package to pay for the FDIC proposal, Shea-Porter said she thought it would be a good use of that money.
“What we wanted right from the beginning was to put this toward the person on Main Street who was having trouble paying the mortgage but could do it if they got it modified,” she said.
Even as the two lawmakers promise to push for the proposals’ passage, housing experts and political scientists aren’t sure the plans will win enough support in the new Congress, even though Democrats will control Congress and the White House.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said he will not support a bill identical to Hodes’ legislation that was filed in the Senate.
Jennifer Lucas, an assistant professor of politics at St. Anselm College, cautioned that Republicans still hold enough seats in the Senate to block legislation they oppose.
“Part of the issue is whether some of the moderate Republicans might be willing to cross over and vote with the Democrats on some of these issues,” Lucas said.
Rosemary Heard, president of CATCH Neighborhood Housing, a Concord-based organization that provides foreclosure counseling and other services, said she hoped Congress and Barack Obama’s administration would take action to reduce foreclosures. But she didn’t think Congress would be able to muster the political will to force mortgage companies to take big losses.
“The servicers have to be part of the solution, so it would require something on a national level that would require them to agree to write down their mortgages across the board,” Heard said. “I frankly can’t see that happening.”
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House Members from New Hampshire Visit USS New Hampshire
SUB
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
12/5/2008
WASHINGTON- Democratic Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes met Thursday with servicemen on board the USS New Hampshire, a naval submarine that was commissioned at the Portsmouth shipyard in October.
Shea-Porter and Hodes, along with Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.), traveled to Port Canaveral, Fla., where the submarine is stationed, and stayed on board the vessel for about eight hours to tour the facilities and speak with crew members and officers.
“The whole purpose, of course, was to see firsthand the work that they do each day,” Shea-Porter said. “I had boarded it before, but I had never experienced actually being underwater with them and seeing some of the things it’s capable of doing.”
Shea-Porter said the best part of the trip was speaking with the servicemen and seeing how hard they work.
“It requires a kind of stamina and mental conditioning and incredible commitment to this country to stay underwater and to be working without the sunlight and without the contact with the families -- except the occasional contact -- and to work like they do, staring at the equipment,” she said. “It’s a very intense environment. They’re a very special breed. I really admire them.”
The USS New Hampshire is the newest addition to the Navy’s Virginia-class of nuclear-powered attack submarines. It is the fourth naval vessel to be named for the state.
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Hodes Says His Bill Would Give Homeowners Facing Foreclosure More Options
FORECLOSURE
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 3, 2008
WASHINGTON—Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) announced Wednesday that he has proposed a bill to give the government several tools to try to reduce home foreclosures across the country.
The legislation, introduced during the waning moments of this session of Congress, would require lenders to restructure the terms of troubled mortgages and allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages on primary residences – changes that Hodes said would let the government deal with the foreclosure crisis more aggressively.
“The rate of foreclosures is rising, not falling,” said Hodes, who promised to reintroduce the bill in January if Congress does not consider it during a December lame-duck session. “More people are losing their homes. The collateral fallout damage to neighborhoods and families is terrible, and I don’t think that mortgage foreclosure has been adequately addressed.”
Hodes said his proposal would provide a “menu of options” to homeowners facing foreclosures. Giving bankruptcy judges the ability to modify the terms of mortgages on primary residences is another option for homeowners who are “so far under water that they need to file bankruptcy,” he said.
But banking industry leaders have staunchly opposed the change, saying it would heighten the risks associated with primary-residence mortgages and result in higher interest rates for mortgages.
“I’ve seen speculation from industry experts that [interest rates] could go up by at least 1 percent, so if the current rate were 6 [percent], you’d be looking at 7 [percent],” said Ralph Coppola, president of the Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association of New Hampshire. That, he said, is “because the risk factor on primary mortgages now is completely going to change if they can be modified after they’ve closed and been sold.”
The legislation would force the hand of lenders who have been hesitant to renegotiate the terms of loans for homeowners facing foreclosures. It would require several federal agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to restructure all home loans that they own or in which they have a controlling interest.
Language in the $700 billion bailout package that Congress passed in October simply encouraged those agencies to renegotiate mortgages. Hodes voted against the bailout, saying it focused “too much on Wall Street” and did not adequately address the mortgage crisis.
Hodes’ proposal also would mandate lender participation in the government’s HOPE for Homeowners program, which helps qualified borrowers who are facing foreclosure refinance into fixed-rate, government-insured mortgages. The voluntary program, which took effect Oct. 1, so far has failed to garner many applications from consumers or support from mortgage lenders, who must take a loss when they write down the principal of a loan as part of the program.
“The HOPE for Homeowners program is pretty new, and we haven’t seen tremendous numbers from it,” Hodes said. “So far it hasn’t worked on a voluntary basis. I think that given what we’re facing, required participation is the way to go until we’re on the other side of the current crisis.”
His new bill also would place some additional limits on dividends and executive compensation paid out by banks who gave the government preferred stock in exchange for a share of the $250 billion in bailout funds allocated for government investment in banks.
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Hundreds of Miles Away, Guardsman Still Calls N.H. Home
EMERSON
The New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
11/24/08
WASHINGTON—Traces of homesickness flit across Andy Emerson's face as he ticks off a list of the things he misses most about his home state of New Hampshire.
“My family’s there. My friends are there,” Emerson says, his voice growing louder with excitement and his words pouring out faster as the list grows longer. “It’s such a friendlier place. It’s a place where you can be at home and not even really be there all the time.”
A drive for practical knowledge and experience has marked the past eight years of Emerson's life, and it has taken the 26-year-old hundreds of miles away from his hometown of Henniker. Still, Emerson manages to keep firm ties to the state as a second lieutenant in the New Hampshire National Guard, even as he works full time for a lobbying firm in Washington and takes night classes at the George Washington University law school.
He’s committed, he says, to returning to New Hampshire as a permanent resident in the not-too-distant future.
In the meantime, Emerson, who maintains a permanent residence, car and spare wardrobe in New Hampshire, flies from Washington to the Granite State one weekend every month to fulfill his National Guard duties and sometimes returns for lengthier officer training sessions.
He enlisted in 2005, while he was working as a legislative assistant in former New Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass’s Washington office, where he often focused on defense and foreign policy issues. Emerson’s decision surprised Bass and other staff in the office, Bass said.
“Andy’s kind of a mild-mannered guy,” Bass said. “He was quiet, and he didn’t appear to me to be the National Guard or military type, but Andy came to me and said, ‘I want to join because I want to do my part. We have this war on terror…and I’m the kind of guy that might be able to make a difference.’”
Emerson took a leave of absence from Bass’s office during the latter half of 2005 to attend basic training in Oklahoma but returned to work after training ended. His military experience gave him better perspective on the congressional policy issues he dealt with and provided him with direct connections to active-duty members of the military, he said.
While staff assistants in most offices relied on congressional military liaison officers, “I could talk to anyone,” said Emerson, who was commissioned as an officer in August and will be in the service for at least six more years.
His personal values, not his work, were the central factors in his decision to enlist, Emerson said. He was an intern in Bass’s office when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. He supported the war in Iraq then, and still does. He concedes that the administration’s policy on the war was badly implemented, but emphasizes that he agrees with its reasons for the invasion.
“I think there was a lot more of a personal sense of not wanting to be hypocritical,” said Emerson, who hasn’t been deployed to Iraq but expects to deploy overseas some time in 2010. “If you supported that decision [to invade Iraq], you should probably be willing to volunteer to be a part of it. There are a lot of ways you can do that. At 23 years old, I thought that [enlisting] was the right way to do it.”
Since he was a little boy, Emerson has always wanted to pull his weight in family, school and work activities, his mother, Nancy Emerson, said.
“When he was in elementary school … and his dad and I were home with him, he shared a night -- each of us cooked one night, and he always took his part,” said Emerson, who lives in East Andover. “Just little things like that.”
Nancy Emerson said her son displayed a similar sense of responsibility when he decided to postpone college for a year after high school. He used that year to work , in New Hampshire for AmeriCorps, a government community service program, because he wasn’t sure, he explained, what he wanted to do in college and didn’t want to waste time and money without having a direction in school.
“I think [AmeriCorps] was a really good experience for him,” his mother said. “I think it made him politically aware about different people’s feelings about politics and about poverty and diversity.”
After his AmeriCorps stint, Emerson enrolled in Goucher College outside Baltimore and interned in Bass’s office during his sophomore year. Bass was so impressed with his work, the former lawmaker said recently, that he hired Emerson as a part-time staff member during his junior year. Emerson commuted to the congressional office and took extra courses that year so he could graduate early and begin working full time.
“Andy is bright, and he learned the ropes very quickly,” Bass said. “We had a lot of interns, and a lot of them were pretty good, but Andy was especially good because of his innate abilities. It just basically worked with him.”
After Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) defeated Bass in November 2006, Emerson found himself looking for work but was hesitant about taking positions offered by defense lobbying firms in Washington.
Then Bass’ former chief of staff, Darwin Cusack, asked him to join Eastpoint Strategies, a Manchester-based lobbying firm. Knowing the position would allow him to split his time between Washington and New Hampshire, Emerson jumped at the offer. At the firm, Emerson helps clients, many of them New Hampshire companies, to apply for federal grants and represents them “to make sure their legislators in D.C. are supporting them.” Company policy prohibits him from discussing specific work he performs for clients.
At night, Emerson attends law school, although he said he wants to remain at Eastpoint Strategies even after he becomes an attorney. The courses he takes as a law student will make him better equipped to find and distill information and consider different sides of arguments and policies, he said.
“I think it’s important to have a broader perspective of what you’re doing,” Emerson said. “It probably has something to do with why I joined the Army, too. I don’t like to talk about things without knowing what I’m talking about.”
Emerson doesn’t expect to graduate from law school until 2013 because he will have to take time off to undergo further officer training in the National Guard. Balancing his military obligations with work and school hasn’t always been easy, and Emerson said he sometimes wonders if he should have enrolled in law school at an earlier date or chosen a more compact National Guard officer training schedule.
“But I tend to think you take life as it comes, and if something’s important, you just make it work,” he said.
Emerson, however, is adamant about one thing: he’ll become a full-time resident of New Hampshire after graduation. The state’s friendly atmosphere, its wealth of outdoor activities like hiking and skiing –not to mention the close proximity of his family and friends – are too much for him too pass up.
“It’s a cross between the suburban, modern life and quasi-rural that allows you to have a great standard of living without dealing with city life,” Emerson said. “I can’t imagine living here [in Washington] and raising a family, and I’d like to do that someday. So I’m going home.”
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Inauguration Ticket Requests Swamp N.H. Congressional Offices
NH TICKETS
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
11/18/08
WASHINGTON – The hottest tickets in the country right now are free, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to get.
New Hampshire’s congressional delegation expects to receive 1,000 to 1,200 presidential inauguration tickets to give to New Hampshire residents looking to snag a spot at President-elect Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony.
But the demand for the tickets is on track to outpace supply. Staff at the congressional offices said they’ve already gotten hundreds of requests for tickets, and they expect thousands to pour in by January.
“There has been an enormous amount of interest, and right now we are taking down all requests,” said Jamie Radice, press secretary for Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.), whose office has received several hundred ticket requests. “We want to accommodate as many constituents as possible.”
There are 240,000 tickets available for the inaugural ceremony, with the largest portion of tickets going to the president-elect and vice president-elect. The remaining tickets are distributed to members of the new Congress. The offices of House members have been allotted 198 tickets each to give to constituents, while Senate offices expect to receive 300 to 400 tickets each.
Constituents can call or e-mail their members’ offices to request tickets, free of charge. The offices will receive the tickets in the week before the inauguration, and constituents must pick them up in person in Washington Those who don’t get tickets but still want to travel to Washington will be able to watch the inauguration on large television screens set up on the National Mall and along the inaugural parade route.
Each congressional office may choose how to distribute the tickets to the public, meaning some members could award the tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, while others could use a lottery system. New Hampshire’s offices have not released information on how they plan to distribute their allotments.
Because tickets are allotted to members of the new Congress, some of New Hampshire’s tickets will go to Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic senator-elect who defeated Republican John Sununu on Nov. 4.
“We have been getting requests on an ad hoc basis,” said Judy Reardon, a member of Shaheen’s senior staff. “We haven’t formalized a process yet with how we’re going to deal with those requests.”
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which organizes all inaugural ceremonies held at the U.S. Capitol, is working to see if new members could set up their Web sites before they take office on Jan. 3 to handle requests, spokeswoman Carole Florman said.
Florman said there “really isn’t a mechanism in place” for newly elected members to take ticket requests from constituents. Often, outgoing members take requests and pass on a list to the incoming members, she said, although they aren’t required to do so. Barbara Riley, a Sununu spokeswoman, said the office is referring all calls about inauguration tickets to the office of Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
People who can’t get tickets through a congressional office should not try to buy tickets on the Internet, officials warn. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Monday that would make it a misdemeanor to sell or attempt to sell tickets to the ceremony. It also would be illegal to forge tickets. The crimes would be punishable by fines up to $100,000 and a year in prison. Feinstein said she hopes Congress will pass the bill this week.
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N.H. House Races Draw Cash from Across Country
OUT-OF-STATE CASH
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
10/29/08
WASHINGTON – New Hampshire’s U.S. House races are garnering interest – and cash – from all corners of the nation.
All four candidates for the state’s two House seats have raised tens of thousands of dollars from out-of-state donors, with most money coming from individuals in Massachusetts, New York and California, according to campaign finance data filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Democratic incumbent Paul Hodes, who represents the 2nd District, has raised at least $482,000 so far during the campaign from people who live in other states, the most of any of the four New Hampshire candidates, according to campaign finance data. The figure does not include contributions from political action committees, formed by industries and interest groups to raise and contribute money to candidates. It also does not take into account funds from individuals who have contributed less than $200 to the campaign, because the campaigns are not required to report details about such donors.
Out-of-state donors are responsible for nearly half of the $1 million Hodes has raised from individuals during the campaign. In total, Hodes has raised $1.8 million since the campaign began.
“People across the country view the congressman as a leader, as a leader of his peers and in Congress,” campaign spokesman Mark Bergman said. “There has been some support around the country, but he’s proud of his support raising over $550,000 from 1,500 individuals in New Hampshire.”
That’s not unusual, according to a study reported by the Center for Responsive Politics:
between 2005 and 2007, 97 percent of members of the House received more than half of their contributions from donors living outside of their districts.
Many of Hodes’ out-of-state contributions come from residents of New York, who contributed about $144,000, and Massachusetts, who contributed about $156,000.Hodes has connections to New York because he was born in New York City and his mother still resides there, Bergman said. He said it makes sense for Massachusetts residents to donate to the campaign because the state and New Hampshire share similar interests.
Benjamin Schwartz, a writer and former commercial fisherman from Wendell, Mass., has donated $4,600 to Hodes’ campaign, the maximum amount allowed under federal law. Schwartz, who was a Massachusetts delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, said he contributes to Democratic candidates around the country to “help the Democratic agenda.”
“The House of Representatives is a national decision-making body, and so it is important if I want to help a certain agenda that I believe in to move forward, like energy independence and positive social policies, then I should support congressmen who are in election fights and in whom I believe, regardless of where they come from,” Schwartz said. “I support my local congressman, but I don’t have an agenda beyond making sure that good public servants like Paul get reelected.”
Schwartz cited Hodes’ push to upgrade the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center to a full-service veterans’ hospital as one of the reasons he supports the candidate.
“I may not be from New Hampshire, and I may not be a veteran, but I care about these things,” he said.
Hodes raked in at least $41,000 from out-of-state individuals from Aug. 21 to Sept. 30, according to his latest campaign report. His challenger, Jennifer Horn, raised about $3,000 from out-of-state donors during the same time period, and at least $29,000 from them since the campaign began. David Chesley, Horn’s campaign manager, said most of the out-of-state contributions came from members of Horn’s family.
Horn’s campaign has raised $226,000 so far in the campaign, just more than 12 percent of Hodes’ total haul. Horn also loaned her campaign $194,600. As an incumbent, Hodes was bound to have a fundraising advantage, Chesley said.
“People in New Hampshire aren’t sold on Paul Hodes,” Chesley said. “Paul Hodes is taking the out-of-state interests to influence New Hampshire races, and, in the end, the people who influence New Hampshire races are the voters in the 2nd District of New Hampshire.”
In the 1st District, Democratic incumbent Carol Shea-Porter and Republican challenger Jeb Bradley are in a tight race – in the polls and in terms of money raised.
Shea-Porter holds a 5 percentage-point lead over Bradley, according to a poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted last week for the Boston Globe. In that poll, 44 percent supported Shea-Porter, 39 percent preferred Bradley and 14 percent were undecided. A UNH poll released at the end of September showed Bradley with a 45-to-42 percent lead.
Pia Carusone, the spokeswoman for Shea-Porter’s campaign, said she thinks the congresswoman is connecting with voters by focusing on the state of the economy and other issues that matter to middle-class voters and will do so until Election Day.
“We’re just going to continue working hard,” Carusone said. “We’ve got a lot of events lined up and we’re going to be out there talking to people about issues that matter, like health care and the war in Iraq. People connect with the congresswoman on those issues.”
Shea-Porter has raised $1.25 million since the campaign began, while Bradley has raised about $1.1 million, including $200,000 that he personally loaned to his campaign, according to campaign finance data.
Between Aug. 21 and Sept. 30, Democrats from other states rallied to fill Shea-Porter’s coffers, making about $45,000 in contributions to her campaign. Shea-Porter has raised about $200,000 from out-of-state individuals during the entire campaign.
Carusone played down the value of out-of-state money, noting that the campaign’s average contribution from individual donors is under $100.
“It’s just the strength of the grassroots campaign,” she said. “It’s not like we’re traveling from city to city having high-end events.”
Bradley, who held the 1st District House seat for two terms until he was defeated by Shea-Porter in 2006, has raised about $46,000 from out-of-state individuals, with $2,300 of that raised between Aug. 21 and Sept. 30. Alicia Preston, the Bradley campaign’s spokeswoman, said she thinks Shea-Porter is receiving a large amount of money from outside the state because Democrats are afraid she will lose her seat in the election.
“My interpretation would be that the Democrats are afraid,” Preston said. “They know [Shea-Porter has] represented the interests of Nancy Pelosi [the Democratic Speaker of the House], and that’s not what people in New Hampshire are looking for.”
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N.H. Senator’s Assets Take Hit in Financial Crisis
PERSONAL FINANCES
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
10/22/08
WASHINGTON-- As everyday Americans see their retirement funds and savings shrink in line with the stock market’s decline, the assets of New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) have also taken a beating.
Gregg, a multimillionaire who ranked as the 21st wealthiest member of the Senate in 2007, may have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars when the markets plummeted this year, according to an analysis of his 2007 financial disclosure statement, a document that lists all of his assets and investments for the year. A copy of the statement, which senators are required to file each year, is available on OpenSecrets.org, the Center for Responsive Politics’ non-partisan, independent Web site that tracks money in politics.
Gregg’s net worth is listed as $3 million to $10 million, according to the Web site. The majority of his wealth stems from private investments, real estate and stock held in publicly traded companies, a Union Leader analysis of the disclosure statement shows.
In 2007, Gregg owned hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock in corporations whose share prices have plummeted since the end of last year, including well-known companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon Mobil and General Electric Co. Gregg’s office said he had not sold any of his assets since the report was compiled.
Federal law requires members of Congress to file annual financial disclosure reports that detail the sources and amounts of income they earn. The form asks members to list the values of their assets within predetermined dollar ranges but does not require them to report specific values of their assets.
According to the disclosure statement, Gregg owned assets worth $250,001 to $500,000 in Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pharmaceutical corporation, in 2007. One share of the company was valued at $25.08 on Dec. 31, 2007, but that value dropped to $17.33 by Oct. 15 of this year, a decline of nearly 31 percent. And that was before the latest round of major declines in the stock indexes.
With his assets in the company valued at a minimum of $250,000, Gregg owned at least 9,968 shares of the company in 2007, although he could hold significantly more. In the last year, the value of 9,968 shares in Bristol-Myers Squibb dropped from about $250,000 to $173,000 – a loss of $77,000.
Gregg likely fared worse with his General Electric investments, which were worth $15,001 to $50,000 in 2007, according to the report. General Electric’s stock price posted a 46 percent drop between the end of last year and this month. At a minimum, the value of Gregg’s assets could have dropped by about $7,000 – from $15,000 to about $8,000.
Other stocks in his portfolio have posted similar declines.
“As required by federal law, Sen. Gregg has always fully disclosed all of his investments,” press secretary Laena Fallon said in the statement. “At this time, he does not plan to change his investments going forward.”
The other members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation also said they did not plan to make changes to their holdings or investment strategies.
Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) has money invested in several mutual funds, which he holds in an IRA and the Federal Thrift Savings Plan, a federal retirement savings plan available to U.S. government employees, according to his office. Sununu’s net worth is listed as $297,000 to $855,000, according to OpenSecrets.org.
“These are long-term investments, made years ago, which he will continue to hold for the long term,” Barbara Riley, Sununu’s communications director, said in a statement.
Like the others, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) has not made any changes in his investment strategy, although his stockbroker is allowed to handle transactions without the congressman’s consent, said Mark Bergman, Hodes’ communications director. Hodes’ net worth was listed as $818,000 to $1.7 million in 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org.
Rep. Carol Shea Porter (D-N.H.) said she and her husband, who works for the federal government, have money invested in a government 401(k) savings plan. OpenSecrets.org lists her net worth as $2,000 to $30,000.
“Like other New Hampshire residents, we are concerned about the impact the downturn in the economy is having on our retirement savings,” she said in a statement.
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Gregg’s Bailout Negotiations Earn Him Bipartisan Kudos
GREGG
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
10/9/08
WASHINGTON-- New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg is not accustomed to the glare of the national spotlight. The third-term Republican usually flew under the radar of the national media until last month, when party leaders appointed him lead negotiator for the Senate Republicans on the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan that went into effect last week.
That’s when Gregg began making the rounds of cable news talks shows and holding near-daily press conferences to promote the contentious plan, which underwent numerous revisions as lawmakers tried to assure its passage after its initial defeat in the House on Sept. 29.
Gregg said he felt obligated to “sell the ideas” in the bailout plan to counterbalance the “disinformation and hyperbole” he thought the public was hearing about the plan, which authorizes the federal government to use up to $700 billion in taxpayer money to purchase troubled mortgage-backed securities in an effort to free up the nation’s credit market.
“I’ve never tried to seek a lot of public attention,” he said. “I felt it was important for me to be aggressive in pointing out what was really happening here and how important it was to everyday Americans to get something done and to do it quickly.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he chose Gregg to be the party’s negotiator because he believed Gregg understood the financial and economic nuances involved in crafting the plan and would be able to stand up and represent the Republicans’ position in negotiations with Democratic leaders. He said Gregg also had the courage to stand firmly behind the bailout – even as members of Congress and everyday Americans questioned the plan.
“This was thought to be a pretty dicey issue politically, as you well know, and created a lot of heartburn among various members,” McConnell said.
Gregg’s work on the plan has earned him praise from not only his Republican cohorts, but also from his Democratic counterparts. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Gregg fought for Republicans on policy disputes during bailout negotiations but was constructive about accommodating other views to make sure the package would “make a difference for the country and have a chance of passing.”
Conrad, who chairs the Budget Committee, on which Gregg is the top Republican, said he thinks senators from both parties hold Gregg in high regard because he is always well-prepared and respectful during discussions.
“Judd is no shrinking violet,” Conrad said with a laugh. “He pushes very, very hard for his position, but he does it in a way that people respect. Some of our colleagues are aggressive, but they put everybody off. Judd is aggressive, but people respect him for it because it’s done in a respectful way.”
But the bipartisan back-patting hasn’t translated to New Hampshire, where some constituents have questioned the necessity of the plan or whether it was a wise use of taxpayer money. And Gregg could endure more fallout as the effects of the bailout plan become clearer. After the plan took effect, the stock market continued to bleed last week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping below 10,000 points Monday for the first time in four years.
University of New Hampshire political science professor Andrew Smith cautioned against trying to gauge constituents’ perception of the legislation because it is too soon to tell whether the bailout package will positively affect the economy.
“I think it’s way too soon to ask people whether they’re for it or against it, because I don’t think anyone is in a position to judge whether it’s effective,” said Smith, the director of the UNH Survey Center. “Nobody understands it. Nobody knows if it’s going to be effective. The people who wrote it don’t know if it’s going to be effective.”
Even as he pushed the plan to his colleagues in Congress and the American people, Gregg made it clear that the bailout wouldn't be a quick fix, or even a long-term solution to the country’s economic woes. It only part of the solution – a tourniquet to stave off economic bleeding, he told the Union Leader Oct. 1.
“Even if we do act, we’re still going to be in a very slow economy, but it’s going to be something we can manage, hopefully,” he said before the plan passed.
Joel Maiola, who served as Gregg’s chief of staff until April, said he wasn’t surprised that Gregg supported the bailout even when it wasn’t politically prudent to do so.
“He has always taken positions that he feels strongly are the right positions for New Hampshire and the people he represents, and he’ll let the politics play out,” Maiola, who now runs a consulting firm in Concord, said. “He is more concerned with doing the right thing.”
Tom Rath, a Concord attorney and longtime friend of Gregg’s, said he thought Gregg tried to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans during the bailout negotiations. Although Gregg is a conservative Republican, he was able to work with members of both parties because he didn’t enter negotiations with the idea of scoring a partisan victory, Rath said.
“You can be partisan but still act in a nonpartisan way when the good of the country or the good of your state is at stake,” he said. “He’s had that almost from day one.”
Rath said Gregg’s respectful attitude helped him to create political capital with his Senate colleagues, especially the Democratic leadership, that he can use in the future to benefit his New Hampshire constituents.
“It’s been very visible the level of respect and admiration his colleagues have for him,” Rath said. “He has the ability to make sure that his concerns about New Hampshire are heard by any member of that body, and I think that’s a great thing for us.”
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N.H. Representatives Still Undecided on Bailout Package
HOUSE
New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
10/2/08
WASHINGTON-- New Hampshire’s two Democratic House members, who voted against the initial $700 billion financial bailout package on Monday, won’t say how they will vote Friday when the House takes up the revised legislation that the Senate overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday.
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter said Thursday she is glad the Senate added renewable energy incentives and a provision to adjust the alternative minimum tax so 20 million Americans avoid paying it, but said she still had concerns about the bill and how it would affect middle-class Americans. The legislation authorizes the treasury secretary to use up to $700 billion in taxpayer money to purchase troubled mortgage-backed securities.
“I do like what they’ve added,” Shea-Porter said. “I think a lot of it helps the people on Main Street.”
Shea-Porter, who has voiced concern about the breadth of authority the bill gives to the treasury secretary, said she wants to make sure that her decision protects middle-class Americans.
Rep. Paul Hodes also is concerned about protecting taxpayers and wants to make sure the legislation adequately addresses home foreclosures, said Mark Bergman, Hodes’ communications director. Hodes was not available for comment Thursday.
Representatives for both congressional offices said they had not received any calls from constituents who were having trouble securing credit. Shea-Porter said about half the callers to her office supported the bailout, while Hodes’ office reported that a “substantial” number of callers were against the legislation. Bergman said Hodes has spoken with bankers and other New Hampshire residents who favor the bailout.
“He has talked to New Hampshire community bankers, people in the financial industry, who are not happy,” Bergman said. “He is listening to all sides of this. He’s coming in with an open mind.”
Shea-Porter said she and other members of Congress will have to stay in Washington to craft another bill if the House doesn’t pass the legislation.
“What I would like to say to the financial markets and to the people in New Hampshire is that we will continue to work on this,” Shea-Porter said Thursday. “Nobody knows how it’s going to turn out tomorrow yet, but we’re not going to walk away from this problem. We’re taking it very seriously.”
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New Hampshire Senators Solidly Behind Rescue Bill
Bailout
The New Hampshire Union Leader
Jenny Paul
Boston University Washington News Service
Oct. 2, 2008
WASHINGTON – Republican New Hampshire Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu rallied behind a revised economic bailout plan that passed the Senate with bipartisan support last night, saying the legislation would help free up the credit markets and aid New Hampshire residents who need access to consumer, auto and school loans.
"Credit is drying up," Gregg said. "The credit crunch is on top of us in a way that is affecting everyday America on Main Street."
After the House defeated the $700 billion rescue plan Monday, Gregg and other congressional leaders worked to revise the legislation in hopes of picking up the votes needed for passage in both chambers. The modified package adds tax break provisions and raises the cap on federal deposit insurance. The bill includes renewable energy tax incentives, extends expiring tax breaks for businesses, including the research and development credit, and adjusts the Alternative Minimum Tax so that more than 20 million Americans avoid paying it.
Gregg said he didn't mind including the extra provisions in the bailout bill.
"I don't have any problem with passing tax cuts onto Americans," Gregg said. "It's not right to tax these people under the AMT because it was not designed to tax all these middle-income people."
The core of the bailout plan remains similar to the version defeated in the House. The plan authorizes the treasury secretary to purchase up to $700 billion in troubled mortgage-backed securities in an effort to free up the credit markets and allow banks to lend against valued assets.
An addition to the plan raises the federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 for a one-year period in an effort to protect small-business owners and individuals who keep more than $100,000 in one bank deposit account.
"That's constructive, but it doesn't go to the essence of the problem," Gregg said of the insurance increase. "It does help people be comfortable keeping their money in one bank."
Sununu praised the increase, saying it would add a level of security and confidence for small business in New Hampshire.
"This bill is far from perfect, but it is necessary, and necessary now to protect all Americans," Sununu said.
He said he voted for the overall package because it was essential to protect the credit on which families and businesses in New Hampshire rely.
"We've read stories over the last two days about restrictions on the lines of credit for business, restrictions on lending for new cars and for new car loans," Sununu said. "And all of those things restrict our economy and prevent people from having the money they need for their family, but also for having the money they need to invest and create new jobs."
Gregg said the rescue plan protects taxpayers by limiting executive compensation and requiring the government to use all proceeds to pay down the national debt. Gregg said it is absolutely "inaccurate" to say the plan will cost taxpayers $700 billion because the government is purchasing assets that have value and will later resell them.
"We may actually make some money," he said. There's certainly not going to be any dramatic cost."
Gregg and other congressional leaders said public opinion began to change this week when the stock market plummeted Monday, credit tightened and consumers found it increasingly difficult to secure loans.
Gregg said he didn't want to speculate about what would happen if the House did not pass the bill.
"I hope that calmer heads will prevail," Gregg said. "People were damaged financially as a result of that vote in the House on Monday."
Gregg continued to stress that the plan was only part of a solution to the financial credit, but said passage of the plan was necessary to start to free up the credit market.
"We're not going to get out of the woods here," he said. "We're still going to have a bad economy. There's no question about that. But the difference between a bad economy and what a cataclysmic event this would be is exponential."
