Nancy Pfotenhauer's Husband Headed Trade Group Lobbying on Bailout

[grassfed]

Nancy Pfotenhauer, a senior economic adviser to McCain, has been all over the airwaves in recent days touting McCain's decision to "suspend" his campaign over the bailout. But her husband, Kurt Pfotenhauer, worked until late last year as the top lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group that in recent years downplayed fears of a housing bubble, only to be proved spectacularly wrong.

When MBA released a report in 2005 on the state of the housing market, its chief economist told reporters: "There are risks but they're far less dramatic than the hyperbole of recent months." An MBA vice president added: "We're trying to dismiss the overheated rhetoric on bubbles." Part of the purpose of the ho-hum rhetoric, it would appear, was to discourage government regulators from looking more closely at the problems in the market, and ultimately taking action to protect homeowners. And many experts blame that regulatory inaction in the housing market for the current financial crisis now shaking the country.

Since January, Kurt Pfotenhauer, who did not immeduately respond to a detailed request for comment, has served as the CEO of the American Land Title Association, a trade association representing the title insurance industry. But during the current crisis, his old employer, MBA, has been at the center of lobbying efforts -- successful it appears -- to oppose a provision, sought by Democrats, that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages on primary residents. The lending industry has long fought such measures, arguing that it would force lenders to increase mortgage rates. In a statement issued yesterday, the MBA asserted that the provision "would throw into question the value of the collateral that backs every mortgage made in this country -- the home." According to one Democratic lobbyist, MBA's current top lobbyist, Francis Creighton, has lately been "living in the halls" of Congress in an effort to influence lawmakers on the bill.

Allies of Kurt Pfotenhauer have lately been willing to tout his ties to the McCain campaign, through his wife, to bolster his professional credentials. An advanced notice of a speech Kurt was to give last week to the Indiana Land Title Association (ITLA), an ALTA affiliate, published in an Indiana newspaper and seemingly written by the ITLA, noted that he would "provide a public policy update from the nation's capital, with an emphasis on the housing and mortgage finance crisis." It added: "His wife, Nancy, is a senior advisor and national spokesperson for presidential candidate John McCain."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/mccain_advisers_husband_heads.php

[Clio the Leo]

1. booo nancy booo!!!! I do NOT like that woman. NT

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Put that in your Pfotenhauer and smoke it!

Kurt Pfotenhauer



Jesu! They even look alike!

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Since they use money instead of sex to reach orgasm, isn't this all the same as incest?

[elkston]

4. She has lovely high cheek-bones. (eom)

[underpants]

5. He didn't stop her from getting that Michael Jackson nose?

Had to ask