Candidate for
Assessor-Clerk Recorder; County of Mendocino

Defend and protect the accuracy of property records

The big Wall Street banks carelessly dealt out sub-prime mortgages when credit was abundant, and then foreclosed on those families when the banks shrank the money supply. Banks admitted culpability to fraud and settled to pay back a small fraction on the dollar of their profits in the 49-state National Mortgage Settlement. The banks paid a fine and continued using fraudulent practices while the foreclosed former homeowners lost everything. Many states diverted their Settlement funds away from homeowner bailouts, who lost even when they won.

In the foreclosure rush, the big banks and mortgage companies carelessly falsified documents and routinely robo-signed foreclosures as to render them dubious at best and outright fraudulent at worst. Even notarizations were falsified. It seemed like an outrageous injustice. Yet, there is something that can be done at a county level to challenge the false documents. The County Recorder can demand an Affidavit of Authority from the servicing bank proving the clear chain of title under penalty of perjury.

When I am elected, I will conduct an independent audit of the property title records as a quality control measure to estimate the extent that bank fraud has affected Mendocino County. If consistent evidence of bank fraud is found, I will refer it to the D.A. and the State Attorney General. In addition, I will scrutinize all incoming property records for accuracy and for obvious signs of fraud, and demand an Affidavit of Authority to clarify the chain of title before recording the document.

I will advocate on the State level to make an Affidavit of Authority a mandate in foreclosures.

In addition, for over 15 years, the Mortgage Electronic Registration System (MERS) has taken over the role of the County Recorder in tracking the transfer of titles encumbered with mortgage liens. The financial industry, eager to trade in mortgage-backed securities, needed to find a way around these County recordation requirements, so they bypassed the Counties with MERS so that those mortgages could be bundled and sold as mortgage-backed derivatives.

When I am elected, I will investigate how MERS got the legal mandate to bypass the County Recorder's Office, and I will sue MERS for all the recording fees that were stolen from the county revenue stream. The office of our County CEO, Carmel Angelo estimates that amount to be over $53,000 per year.

Increase voting accessibility with more polling places

Faced with new regulations regarding wheel-chair accessibility and touch-screen voting machines, and a critical budget shortfall, our previous County Clerk, Marsha Wharff, decided to close most of the polling places in the county. Voting precincts were gerrymandered so that most of the people in the county have to mail in their ballots. Yet, some people feel they have been robbed of their democratic right to go to the polls to cast their vote. Many people feel their efforts to be heard concerning accessibility to the polls have been stonewalled.

When elected, I will investigate exactly why Marsha Wharff decided to close the polls, and then conduct public hearings to find out what the public would prefer. Then I will implement solutions and make sure all justifications for those decisions are clearly announced in the public media.

Increase accessibility and transparency

• When elected, I will make sure property tax assessment notices are mailed out in a timely fashion.
• I will make sure all the death certificates are used to clean up the voter roles.
• I will work with the County IT department to make the Assessor-Clerk-Recorder website more user-friendly and informative.
• I will make sure those who want to know the separate assessments on their separate parcels are all easy to find on the website, and up to date.
• I will make sure the election packets are prepared completely and timely for candidates and ballot measures with crisp, legible copies.