Just months after Harris secured those funds along with the other state AGs, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown diverted $331 million from California's portion of the settlement to pay off state budget shortfalls incurred before the housing crisis.
Ian Sams, her national campaign spokesman, pointed to a Harris statement from 2012, when she was still attorney general, vowing to work with Brown and the Democratic-controlled legislature to ensure the $331 million in funds in question were used to help Californians struggling with foreclosures.
"While the state is undeniably facing a difficult budget gap, these funds should be used to help Californians stay in their homes," Harris said in that statement.
Von Spakovsky noted, such a stance wouldn't prevent Harris from making some of the same broad statements she made about the issue before the recusal - such as that she disagreed with Brown's decision to divert the funds because they were intended to directly help homeowners.
Those funds are part of the same $25 billion national settlement - the lion's share of which was aimed at providing debt relief in California - Harris repeatedly references on the campaign stump as one of her biggest achievements.
As Harris has repeated that refrain throughout the year, journalists and consumer advocates have started scrutinizing the record.
Grove and Bautista remain skeptical that Newsom will direct the money in the proper way and both argue that Harris has been conspicuously absent from the public tug-of-war over the funds she helped secure and that never reached the struggling homeowners they were intended to help.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/08/14/harris_silence_on_diverted_funds_rankles_housing_advocates_141005.html
Ian Sams, her national campaign spokesman, pointed to a Harris statement from 2012, when she was still attorney general, vowing to work with Brown and the Democratic-controlled legislature to ensure the $331 million in funds in question were used to help Californians struggling with foreclosures.
"While the state is undeniably facing a difficult budget gap, these funds should be used to help Californians stay in their homes," Harris said in that statement.
Von Spakovsky noted, such a stance wouldn't prevent Harris from making some of the same broad statements she made about the issue before the recusal - such as that she disagreed with Brown's decision to divert the funds because they were intended to directly help homeowners.
Those funds are part of the same $25 billion national settlement - the lion's share of which was aimed at providing debt relief in California - Harris repeatedly references on the campaign stump as one of her biggest achievements.
As Harris has repeated that refrain throughout the year, journalists and consumer advocates have started scrutinizing the record.
Grove and Bautista remain skeptical that Newsom will direct the money in the proper way and both argue that Harris has been conspicuously absent from the public tug-of-war over the funds she helped secure and that never reached the struggling homeowners they were intended to help.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/08/14/harris_silence_on_diverted_funds_rankles_housing_advocates_141005.html
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