ZIMMER CALLS FOR GREATER MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE FOR MEMBERS OF U.S. SENATE

ZIMMER CALLS FOR GREATER MORTGAGE DISCLOSURE FOR MEMBERS OF U.S. SENATE

-- Campaign Challenges NJ’s Senior Senator To Come Clean With Voters Amid Mortgage VIP Scandal --

Flemington, NJ – U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer challenged Frank Lautenberg to respond to reports that he refuses to publicly disclose information about his home mortgages.  Zimmer also called on the U.S. Senate to change its ethics rules to require that senators and senate candidates publicly disclose their complete mortgage details within 30 days.   Zimmer pledged to make such disclosures about his own home mortgages whether or not the rules are changed and whether or not Sen. Lautenberg makes similar disclosures.

“Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” Zimmer said.  “Amid allegations of special ‘VIP’ mortgage deals and preferential treatment for some U.S. senators, New Jersey’s voters deserve a straight answer from their senior senator.  But reports coming out of Washington on Frank Lautenberg suggest otherwise. Voters of New Jersey can rest assured that I got my mortgage the same way as the vast majority of other hard-working homeowners – I shopped around and looked for the best rates.  No VIP program, no special treatment.  Not even a free toaster.”

Earlier this month, multiple news outlets reported that two U.S. Senators – Sens. Dodd (D-CT) and Conrad (D-ND) – accepted preferential mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.  According to reports, these mortgages were part of Countrywide’s “VIP” loan program not available to the public.  

Countrywide, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender and the largest lender of sub-prime mortgages, has lost billions of dollars in the mortgage crisis and is slated to receive significant financial benefits from the housing legislation pending now before the U.S. Senate.

The respected Capitol Hill newspaper Politico recently called every Senate office and asked for the answers to three questions:

1. Who is the senator's home mortgage lender (or lenders, if the senator has more than one residence)?
2. Whom did the senator contact to arrange the loan?
3. Did the senator receive any special terms?

Sens. Lautenberg is one of just 23 members of the U.S. Senate who have not responded to Politico’s query.

“What is Frank Lautenberg hiding?” asked Zimmer for Senate campaign manager Mark Duffy.  “New Jersey’s senior senator should stop stonewalling and join Dick Zimmer in making full and complete disclosure.”

According to Politico, “senators and members of Congress do not have to disclose anything about their home mortgages — not how much they borrowed, from whom they borrowed it or what interest rate they paid.”  Zimmer says it is time for a change and is calling for full disclosure of each senator’s residential mortgages.  

Under the Zimmer proposal, senators would have 30 days to disclose the date that the mortgage was signed, the originator of the mortgage, the size of the loan, the interest rate, the term, and the name and address of the creditor.

“Updating Senate disclosure laws to include all information about mortgages is good government,” Zimmer added.  “That’s why this week I will send to the Secretary of the Senate an amended disclosure report that will include my mortgage information.”

 Attached is the Politico newspaper report.

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