WATCH: Liberal Group Uses Foreclosure Crisis Profits to Target Treasury Pick Steve Mnuchin
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As Washington, D.C. gears up to vote on President-elect Donald Trump’s nominations for Cabinet posts, the liberal group Allied Progress has launched a new ad campaign pressuring two Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2018, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Dean Heller of Nevada, to vote against Treasury pick Steve Mnuchin.
“Former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin raised millions to elect Trump. Now Trump picked him to be America’s top economic official, even though Mnuchin made millions after his bank foreclosed on homeowners and discriminated against Latinos,” the ad states. “Tell Senator Flake to vote ‘No’ on Mnuchin. We need a Treasury Secretary who will help us, not himself.”
During the United States recession of 20076 to 2009, when the interest rates of millions of American mortgages jumped abruptly, triggering defaults and a sharp decline in home prices, Mnuchin’s bank OneWest (previously known as IndyMac) was accused of using aggressive tactics against homeowners and committing racial bias in its foreclosure practices. Mnuchin has since divested from the bank.
Allied Progress is targeting Arizona and Nevada, because they were two of the states hit worst by the foreclosure crisis that accompanied the economic downturn, as homeowners fell behind on mortgages, and their homes’s prices fell below that of their mortgages.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
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