Congressional Paragon of Virtue Demanded Reprimand of Joe Wilson

This reminds me of the Biblical story from Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV):

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

The story from Bloomberg:

A plea by California Representative Laura Richardson that House Democrats respond after Republican Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at President Barack Obama last week helped spur her party’s leaders to action. ...

During her behind-closed-doors speech to House colleagues, Richardson recalls saying that “this country has taken on a display of hate, a display of rage a display of unwillingness to even consider and be open to change.”

Richardson said she was concerned that Wilson’s outburst showed “we have crossed the line of it becoming dangerous if we as members are going to scream at one another.”

She didn’t ascribe any racial motivation to Wilson’s comment, though other black lawmakers who pushed for a rebuke of Wilson said they believed that Obama wouldn’t have been heckled during his speech if he were white.

How noble.

Now, let's take a look at Richardson's spotless past:

Richardson purchased a home in Sacramento with no money down^[5] and a subprime mortgage. Washington Mutual alleged that she later walked away from her Sacramento home and the mortgage within two years of receiving the $578,000 mortgage and stopped making payments on the home and the mortgage. Washington Mutual foreclosed on the house and the final amount owed by Richardson was $578,000 which was $40,000 more than the home was worth.^[6] According to county records, Richardson received a default notice and Notice of Trustee's Sale in late 2007. In December 2007, Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000.^[7] According to the couple that sold the home to Richardson, Richardson was not maintaining the home. Sharon Helmar has stated: "The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her. She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."^[8]

The real estate broker who bought Rep. Laura Richardson's Sacramento house at a foreclosure sale last month is accusing her of receiving preferential treatment because her lender has issued a notice to rescind the sale. James York, owner of Red Rock Mortgage, said he would file a lawsuit against Richardson and her lender, Washington Mutual, by the end of the week, and has every intention of keeping the house. York bought the Sacramento home at a foreclosure auction on May 7 for $388,000. Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year, and had also gone into default on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro. Richardson, D-Long Beach, has said that the auction should never have been held, because she had worked out a loan modification agreement with her lender beforehand and had begun making payments.^[9] Washington Mutual has since settled with York. Experts interviewed in relation to the foreclosure and recision have claimed that Washington Mutual's actions in Richardson's favor have been nearly unprecedented. "It seems to me it has nothing to do with the law, but it has to do with [Washington Mutual] trying to be deferential to a congresswoman," said Grant Nelson, the William H. Rehnquist Professor of Law at Pepperdine University.^[10]

According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Richardson had also defaulted on payments for her primary home in Long Beach and an additional property she owns in San Pedro. Although she has worked out an agreement with her lender for the Long Beach property, the San Pedro home is still in default and faces foreclosure.^[11]

She also initially did not disclose a loan from a strip club owner when on the City Council, public records show.^[12]

Rep. Richardson's Sacramento home has been declared a 'public nuisance', as reported by the LA Times. The Code Enforcement Department in Sacramento has declared her home a "public nuisance" and threatened up to $5,000 a month fine if she does not fix up the property. The city action was prompted when police were called twice to investigate reports of a suspicious person in or around the house. Officers called the Code Enforcement Department, which boarded up a broken door. In July inspectors visited the house twice and found "junk and debris" in the driveway and "rotting fruit on the ground in the rear yard which creates rodent harborage."^[10]

Rep. Richardson is currently under investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics as a result of her ties to this Sacramento home. ^[13]

Sawdust meet plank.