The nine Massachusetts branch offices of the huge mortgage company Ameriquest will close as part of a nationwide cut of 3,800 jobs, a move that again puts the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Deval L. Patrick, in the position of defending his role as a well-paid director of the firm.
Yes folks, Deval Patrick is on the Ameriquest board. As we all know by now (ad, nauseum) Ameriquest has had some problems in the past with shady mortgage dealings. Yes, they have done some things in the past that would justify calling them a “bad company”, but unlike some other candidates, Deval didn’t just wring his hands. Deval got to work. Because that’s what he does.
Ameriquest has since come to a settlement that Deval was personally involved in negotiating, not that it makes any difference to his detractors on this blog, or in state government.
Once again, our AG rides to the rescue!
Yes, Tom, Ameriquest bad. But it looks like someone else is already on the case.
”The important thing to note here,” Goetcheus said, ”is that consumers’ mortgages are secure.”
The firm complied with the law, but is open to discussing the issue with state regulators, said Orlando, the Ameriquest spokesman. ”We believe that we are in compliance with applicable state laws and regulations, but, of course, we’re fully prepared to discuss any regulatory concerns or questions with state officials.”
So until state regulators make some findings here, the Globe, not to mention Reilly’s Rapid Response Team is just in speculative spin mode.
Like that’s new.
I was equally incensed to today when I read another stupid story on Ameriquest. Based on some of comments and posts here on BMG you would think that Patrick was the CEO and that he personally fired each one of the employees in Mass and enjoyed it! I get very upset about this issue because it is a NON-ISSUE!
There you are
(Full disclosure) A Reilly support here. . .I have posted these questions under David’s story, but I’m guessing that a Patrick supporter may have the answers and that this post will be a magnate for the Patrick crowd, so here it goes. . .
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I am quite familiar with Deval Patrick’s account of his Ameriquest story, which Susan pretty much summarizes above: Ameriquest was a bad company. . .they needed Patrick’s expertise. . .he played a major role in their settlement, etc. . .this isn’t about the money, it’s about his commitment to protecting people from predatory lenders, etc, etc.
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However, other than Deval Patrick himself (or his former spokesperson cited above), has anyone ever verified that Patrick was actually brought onto Ameriquest’s board of directors for the specific reason of addressing their predatory lending problem?
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Similarly, other than Deval Patrick himself (or his campaign), has anyone ever verified that he was actually integrally involved in Ameriquest’s settlement? If so, what parts of it?
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I honestly do not know the answers to these questions. Anyone?
I did a quick ProQuest / LexisNexis search on Deval Patrick before 2004 — there quite a few articles. Unfortunately I can’t seem to link — does anybody know how to link to a proquest search?
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Was Fleet related to AmeriQuest at that time? I don’t know, but I found the following article:
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NYTimes May 8th, 1996 says: “The Fleet Financial Group Inc. agreed today to pay about $4 million to hundreds of black and Hispanic customers to settle the United States Justice Department allegations that minority borrowers were charged more for loands than whites….
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“Loans should be based on risk, not race,” said Deval Patrick….
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Fleet agreed to pay 3.8 million, or an average of $6,000 to the 600 affected customers, plus $200,000 for a community education program on home mortgages….”
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The article made it sound like a pretty good deal for the consumers.
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A New York Times article, from Jan. 29, 1998, “Texaco Said to Make Progress Toward Easing Discrimination” discusses Texaco’s Equality and Fairness Task force and outlines how far Texaco has come (though not far enough). It also outlined the steps that Patrick and the task force were taking at the time to close the gaps which seems pretty thorough.
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Whether he was brought onto the Board of Directors of these companies for the specific reason of addressing their predatory lending problem, I’m not sure. But it does appear that he has worked on the issues of discimination in lending and in the workforce quite a bit. I don’t see anything sofar that contradicts anything Deval has said. (It was a quick search, and I have to go study for finals…)
aftertig, I appreciate your effort to answer my questions and I realize you were short on time, but that information does not answer my questions. My questions were related to Patrick’s representations of his invitation to join Ameriquest, decision to join Ameriquest, and central role in implementing a solution to Ameriquest’s predatory lending problem. Has there been any independent verification of his account?
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You have offered a 1996 quote from Patrick while the Jusice Department and 1998 article when Patrick was either at the Justice Department or Texaco. While these show that he has some background on the issues, they do not address my issues.
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However, I do genuinely thank you for trying.
I honestly don’t know anymore information about Deval and Ameriquest than what is in the papers and what Deval himself has said about his involvement with the settlement.
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At the debate Deval mentioned that he and Tom Reilly both had a part in the settlement – I guess if you Reilly folks knew something was untoward then about Deval’s role, Tom would have spoken up. But then again, he was a bit fixated on tax returns…
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But I digress.
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I would imagine since these issues have been covered extensively in the Boston Globe and other publications that if there was some skullduggery involved, the Globe, with their considerable means to do research, would have dug it up and been more than happy to trumpet it from their circulation bully pulpit.
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I have no reason to believe that Deval Patrick is being untruthful about his associations with Ameriquest or any other associations he has. For the record, I don’t love Ameriquest, but as someone who has benefited from a sub-prime mortgage, I appreciated the opportunity to get my family’s foot in the door of owning our own home. I am the first in my family to do so. I appreciate the work that Deval Patrick has done (and also Tom Reilly) to make sure that lenders like Ameriquest treat people fairly. That’s something I think we can all agree on.
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afertig wins the most dedicated blogger award! I really appreciate the effort. That’s true blogger spirit!
Hah, thanks… I really should be studying…
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You know, as much as people say that the internet makes things go faster and allows people to be more productive, it really only detracts from my productivity.
I think many folks around here could say the same thing. đŸ™‚
I don’t see how there could be “independent verification” from anyone other than Roland Arnall, who asked Patrick to join the board in the first place. And that’s never going to happen. This is a silly issue – let’s move on.