By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 28, 2008
When the Rev. Jesse Jackson came to Prince George's County in December to push for more forceful action on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure, there at his side was Maryland congressional candidate Donna F. Edwards.
Last week, Jackson took his message to Washington, leading hundreds of marchers in a protest at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This time, he was joined by Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md.), the eight-term congressman who is being challenged by Edwards in the Feb. 12 primary.
State officials have said that Prince George's has the highest rate of foreclosures in Maryland. Montgomery County, too, has been hit hard by the crisis. So it is little surprise that the housing market has emerged as a central issue in an increasingly vigorous campaign for Congress from Maryland's 4th District, which includes parts of both counties.
Wynn faces a tough challenge from Edwards, a lawyer who came within three percentage points of defeating him in 2006. Also competing for the nomination in the overwhelmingly Democratic district are Michael Babula, Jason Jennings, George E. McDermott and George E. Mitchell.
In 2006, Edwards focused her criticism of Wynn on his 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
"It could be economic anxieties may drive this election more than the war did the last time," said Ron Walters, a University of Maryland political science professor. "To the extent there's now been a sliding in the economy, whoever has or appears to have the best proposals for dealing with foreclosure may be in a very good position to win."
Wynn said he is urging legislation to protect the credit rating of those who have lost homes to foreclosure because of predatory lending. He also has backed a proposal to give tax relief to those whose homes are being seized, and he wants to enhance the ability of the Federal Housing Administration to provide loans to people who want to buy a home.
Edwards has called for a moratorium on home foreclosures, which could give recipients of subprime loans time to renegotiate better interest rates. She also says the loan industry should have additional congressional oversight and regulation, a task she accuses Wynn of shirking.
"These loan products should have never been in the market in the first place," she said. "Congress should have been watching."
Wynn and Edwards have clashed in increasingly stern tones over whether Wynn's 2005 vote in favor of a bill that made it more difficult for people to file for bankruptcy has had any impact on the crisis.
At no personal appearance does Edwards fail to mention Wynn's vote, and she has noted that he has taken campaign contributions from credit card companies and banks that lobbied for the bill's passage. She suggests that the blame for increasing numbers of people losing their homes should be placed at Wynn's feet.
Specifically, she argues the bill should have included a provision to allow those filing for bankruptcy to renegotiate their home mortgages in court.
Wynn says none of the changes the legislation created affected a homeowner's ability to avoid having his or her home seized. "The bill did not make the situation worse, and that's what my opponent is trying to say," he said. "It neither caused nor contributed to the foreclosure crisis."
He said he supports legislation to do what Edwards has suggested -- allowing bankruptcy courts to help restructure home loans. But that issue was never debated during the years of discussion that led to the bankruptcy bill's passage, he said.
Travis Plunkett, a leading opponent of the bill's passage and legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, said provisions to make loans negotiable in court were not "even on the table" during debate. "It didn't come up," he said.
Plunkett, however, said the bill has generally made life more difficult for those facing financial hardship, including people having trouble making mortgage payments.
Other candidates in the race also have put the crisis at the center of their campaigns.
Mitchell, a real estate agent from Temple Hills, tells prospective voters he has the most experience in the trenches helping people avoid foreclosures.
"I got three calls today from people facing foreclosure," he said Friday. "I saved a guy's home just yesterday. . . . No one has the real estate knowledge I have."
Babula, a visiting economics professor at Loyola College in Baltimore, says that his understanding of world markets makes him the best qualified to handle the sagging economy.
"I've been telling my students since last January that this would be a big problem," he said. "I'm the only one who has been teaching economics for the last five years. It gives me an advantage."
Despite the heat Wynn has taken on the issue from his opponents, Walters said economic anxiety might give Wynn an edge, as jittery voters find comfort in his 15 years of experience and look for the benefits of his seniority in crafting legislation to spur the economy. "The incumbent, in a crisis, is always stronger," Walters said.
Others point out that voters often turn against long-serving incumbents during downturns.
"Whether people will blame Albert for what is a national and regional crisis, that's hard to say," said Peter Shapiro, a former Prince George's County Council member who has not made an endorsement in the race. "That's certainly going to be [Edwards's] tactic, though."
Staff writer Hamil R. Harris contributed to this report.
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