http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/10/13/elizabeth-warren-heads-to-ohio-hotbed-for-the-foreclosure-crisis/Sources have conveyed to FDL News that Elizabeth Warren, assistant to the President and counselor to the Treasury Secretary for consumer financial protection, will head to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow for her first outside-the-Beltway trip, to speak with consumer and housing groups about the credit markets and the new role of the CFPB.
The trip in and of itself doesn’t seem like much. But I’m certainly intrigued by “housing” and “Ohio.” Attorney General Richard Cordray issued the first lawsuit against a mortgage servicer for fraud and violation of consumer protection laws. In addition, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner was instrumental in getting the White House to veto a bill that may have made it more difficult for borrowers and their attorneys to challenge foreclosure documents in court (by the way, Robert Gibbs mentioned at the time that Warren had a meeting with the President the day before he vetoed that bill). Those offices are both based in Columbus, the state capital. The event won’t be public, but some local press will attend.
Warren has only been part of the Administration for about a month, yet she has been a ubiquitous presence on television and in print, arguing for her vision of consumer financial protection. We’re now on the precipice of another major crisis affecting the credit markets, where corporate interests clearly are taking advantage of consumers (as well as investors), often through outright fraud. So Warren goes… right to the belly of the beast to gather more information in discussion with consumer credit and housing non-profits?
Could be nothing. Could be a sign of the Administration looking more deeply into the matter…
UPDATE: The official release:
ELIZABETH WARREN TO ADDRESS CONSUMER ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION THURSDAY IN COLUMBUS, OHIO
More at the link ---