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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2012)
Opinion Foreclosures Hurt Our Communities “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2012 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds E very time a family loses a home to foreclosure, the negative effects flow through the community, especially nearby neighbors who lose value in their own properties. Among the 10.9 million homes that went into foreclosure between 2007 and 2011, over half of the “spillover” cost to nearby homes have led to a $1 trillion loss in home equity for African-American and Latino families. This key finding from a new report by the Center for Responsible Lending found that high concentration of foreclosures in neighborhoods of color perpetu- ate these disproportionate burdens in America’s continuing foreclo- sure crisis. The report entitled Collateral Damage: The Spillover Costs of Foreclosures, said, “Families impacted in minority neighbor- hoods have lost or will lose on average, $37,084 or 13 percent of their home value.” By compari- son, the overall average American homeowner affected by nearby foreclosures will lose only seven percent of their home value, or $21,077. The most recently-available cen- sus data shows that African-Americans and Latinos comprise less than 30 percent of the nation’s population. Yet R ESPONSIBLE L ENDING Charlene Crowell together, neighborhoods of color shoulder over half of the $1.95 trillion in the drain on neighboring property values due to foreclo- sures. vicers – have been practically drowning. Until policymakers get serious about reducing foreclo- sures and restoring meaningful home ownership in all communi- ties, a full economic recovery will likely remain out of reach.” In addition, communities of color still suffer from stark wealth gaps compared to whites. Earlier this year the U.S. Census Bureau found that African-Ameri- cans, Latinos and Asian-Americans together lost Earlier this year the U.S. Census Bureau found that African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans together lost nearly 60 percent of median household net worth from 2005-2010 “CRL’s report is troubling evi- dence of how much the economic cost of foreclosures are spilling over into communities all over America,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leader- ship Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Communities of color – which have been targeted for years by predatory lenders, and abused for years by mortgage ser- nearly 60 percent of median household net worth from 2005- 2010. During these same years, median net worth for white fami- lies dropped by 23 percent. With fewer investment portfolios and lower earnings, the hope to build wealth for communities of color often rests with the value of their home investment. As troubling as the report’s find- ings are, the report also acknowl- edges that it does not even cover all the negative impacts of foreclo- sures. In addition to reducing nearby property values, foreclo- sures also result in myriad other costs such as lost revenues to local governments, neighborhood blight, and increased crime. “Families who lose a home can- not tap home equity to start a new business, pay for higher education or secure their retirement. Loss of a home also removes a financial cushion against unexpected finan- cial hardships such as job loss, divorce or medical expenses, and eliminates the main vehicle for transferring wealth inter-genera- tionally”, said the report. Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the national Council of LaRaza agrees: “The wealth drain triggered by foreclosures is con- tinuing unabated, hurting Latino families and other vulnerable communities the hardest. We’re calling on policymakers to show strong leadership in stopping the foreclosure crisis and making fair and sustainable housing a national priority.” Charlene Crowell is a communi- cations manager with the Center for Responsible Lending. Obama Can Win Without the Popular Vote E ven if President Obama loses the popular vote on Nov. 6, as some national polls are projecting, he could still get re-elected by winning in the Electoral College, where he cur- rently holds an edge over Republican challenger Mitt Rom- ney. If that scenario plays out, it would mark the third time that has happened in the nation’s history and the first since George W. Bush entered the White House in 2000 after losing the popular vote to Former Vice President Al Gore, Jr. by 500,000 votes. “The Electoral College is a process, not a place,” the U.S. Electoral Colleges notes on its Web site. “The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Con- gress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citi- zens.” States have the same number of electors as they have members in their congressional delegation. In addition to the 535 members of Congress, the 22nd Amendment provides that the District of Columbia is allocated three elec- tors and treated like a state under this process. A majority – 270 of the 538 elec- tors – is needed to become president and vice president. Gen- erally, electors are selected by the candidate’s political party and can be counted on to support the party’s nominee. With the excep- tion of Maine and Nebraska, all states have a winner-take-all sys- tem. That’s important for large states, such as California, which has 55 electors or 20 percent of the votes needed for victory. The names of electors generally Page 4 The Portland Skanner October 31, 2012 T HE C URRY R EPORT George E. Curry appear on the presidential ballots in most states. States tabulate the votes of electors in December of an election year before forwarding results to Congress for a final count. A 2009 report by the Congres- sional Research Service (CRS), titled, “Electoral College Reform: 111th Congress Proposals and election because no candidate had an electoral vote majority.” Unlike Gore, who accepted the results after the Supreme Court halted the counting of ballots in Florida and handed down a deci- sion favoring Bush, House Republicans would likely use the outcome to increase their partisan attacks on President Obama. They would most likely call for abolish- ing the Electoral College, a position they did not take when Bush assumed the presidency after losing the popular vote. By design, the U.S. Constitution is not easily amended. Proposed amendments must be approved by a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and passage by three- fourths of the states, usually George W. Bush entered the White House in 2000 after losing the popular vote to Former Vice President Al Gore, Jr. by 500,000 votes Other Current Developments,” stated: “…This system has elected the candidate with the most popu- lar votes in 48 of the 52 presidential elections held since the 12th Amendment was ratified in 1804. The four exceptions have been negatively characterized by some commentators as Electoral College ‘misfires.’ “In three instances (1876, 1888 and 2000), the Electoral College awarded the presidency to candi- dates who won a majority of electoral votes, but gained fewer popular votes than their principal opponents. In a fourth case (1824), the House of Representatives decided the contest by contingent within seven years. Over the past 200 years, more than 700 propos- als have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College. None have been passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The CRS report noted, “In the final analysis, given the high hur- dles – both constitutional and political – faced by any proposed amendment, it seems unlikely that the Electoral College system will be replaced or reformed by consti- tutional amendment unless its alleged failings become so com- pelling that large concurrent majorities in Congress, the states, and among the public, are dis- posed to undertake its reform or abolition.” Under the present system, a joint session of Congress will be con- vened on Jan. 6 to officially count the electoral votes. The vice presi- dent and president of the Senate preside over the session and announce the official tally. In the unlikely event that neither Obama nor Romney receives the 270 electoral votes needed to become president, the Republican- led House of Representatives would pick the president and the Democratic-controlled Senate would select the vice president. That means Romney would proba- bly be elected president and Joe Biden would likely remain as vice president. Few political scientists expect that to happen. Going into this week, Obama was leading in 11 polls taken in battleground states, Romney was ahead in four and two were tied. Every president re-elected in the last 50 years returned to office with a larger share of the popular vote than they had received in their first term. If Obama loses the popular election to Romney, he would be the exception. And if he loses the election and wins in the Electoral College, the strained relations between Republicans and the White House is likely to grow worse. Mark Mckinnon, a political strategist for George W. Bush, told the Washington Post, that if Obama returns to the White House in that manner, “the Republican base will be screaming that Rom- ney should be president, and Obama doesn’t represent the coun- try.” He added, “It’s going to encourage more hyperpartisan- ship.”
