On Thursday, May 26, over 50 clergy, faith leaders, and homeowners from 6 counties across Florida will travel to Tallahassee to hold a prayer vigil outside of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office to urge her to stop siding with the Wall Street banks and drop her opposition to a strong settlement to the foreclosure fraud scandal that includes loan modifications and principal reduction for Florida homeowners.

The faith leaders from PICO United Florida are part of a national effort of homeowners, clergy, workers and community leaders pressing for a strong settlement against the nation’s largest mortgage servicers for fraudulent foreclosure practices (www.CrimeShouldntPay.com, www.NewBottomLine.com).  They will set up a fake “moral hazard zone” around Attorney General Bondi’s office to respond to her comments that reducing mortgage balances for homeowners would create “moral hazard.”  Thursday’s action comes after months of AG Bondi refusing to meet with them.

WHAT:  Prayer vigil at Attorney General Bondi’s office to demand that the AG drop opposition to foreclosure fraud settlement

WHO:  50+ clergy, homeowners, faith leaders from six Florida counties

WHEN:  Thursday, May 26 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:  Capitol Courtyard, 142 E. Monroe St., Tallahassee

VISUALS:  Clergy in attire, fake “moral hazard zone” with homeowners in orange vests, signs that say “Caution: Moral Hazard Zone Ahead” (see below) and “AG Bondi: Stand with Florida Homeowners”, traffic cones, etc.

BACKGROUND:

In late March, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, together with the state Attorneys General from Virginia, Texas and South Carolina, sent a letter to Attorney General Tom Miller of Iowa, the lead AG in the 50-state probe of banks’ fraudulent foreclosure practices, stating their opposition to certain terms of a proposed settlement.  In the letter, they objected to “new documentation requirements and principal reduction,” arguing that reducing the amount that an underwater homeowner owes on their mortgage could foster “moral hazard.”  Read the letter at http://bit.ly/gcsZK8.

PICO United Florida faith leaders believe that the real moral hazard at stake is continuing to make responsible Florida homeowners bear the full brunt of the cost of a housing bubble and bust that was fueled by big Wall Street banks. Attorney General Bondi is at risk of encouraging “moral hazard” – rewarding and encouraging future bad behavior – by proposing that the big banks continue to not have to share in the cost of cleaning up a housing mess that they helped create and from which they made record profits.

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This action is part of The New Bottom Line, a campaign fueled by a coalition of community organizations, congregations, labor unions, and individuals working together to build a movement that challenges established big bank interests on behalf of struggling and middle-class communities.  Together, we are working to restructure Wall Street to help American families build wealth, close the country’s growing income inequality gap and advance a vision for how our economy can better serve the many rather than the few.  The New Bottom Line campaign includes PICO National Network, National People’s Action (NPA), Alliance for a Just Society, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and Industrial Areas Foundation of the Southeast (IAF-SE) and dozens of state and local organizations from around the country.

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4closureFraud.org

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Letter to Miller 3-22-11 From FL TX SC VA Ags