Your Tax Dollars at Work

From the San Jose Mercury News: Calif. congresswoman failed to pay mortgage on home.

California Congresswoman Laura Richardson has a unique perspective on the housing foreclosure bills moving through Congress: One of her own homes was threatened with repossession after she failed to pay the mortgage.

Richardson, a Southern California Democrat, bought a two-story home in a leafy, upper-middle class neighborhood of Sacramento in January 2007, just months after winning a seat in the state Assembly.

Property records on file in Sacramento show Richardson bought the three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home on West Curtis Drive for $535,500.

The bill collectors started knocking soon after, according to records reviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Another default notice in March of this year put the "unpaid balance and other expenses" at $578,384 and said her 1,639-square-foot house would be auctioned at a trustee sale. The county records show the property was sold to a company called Red Rock Mortgage Inc. of Sacramento for $388,000, although no listing could be found for the company.

Records on file at the Sacramento County Tax Collector's Office also show Richardson is delinquent in paying $8,950 in property taxes.

"I understand that these homeownership issues are a reflection of what many Americans are going through as they fight to keep their homes and to remain financially stable," Richardson said in her statement.

She feels her own pain, folks!