This Race Could Boil Down To The Better Of Two Evils In A Battle Of The Foreclosure Mills

Steve Dibert, MFI-Miami

Campaign finance reports are now available throughout Michigan and I’ve spent the better of the past nine hours looking at them.  I thought I had my mind made up on who I was going to endorse in one particular race but after reading these campaign finance reports, it’s not going to happen.

The Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard, who was appointed by the Oakland County Commission at the beginning of in December of 2010 when former Clerk/Register of Deeds, Ruth Johnson was sworn in as Michigan Secretary of State, is running for a full term.  He faces off against State Representative Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield).  Brown made national headlines last month when she was barred from speaking by the Republican Speaker of the Michigan House and Christian Fascist Jase Bolger because she told the Republicans to “stay out of her vagina” and accused the GOP leadership of shoving fundamental Christianity down the throats of Jewish people during a debate on abortion legislation.

Although her vagina media tour was impressive politics, it doesn’t appear to have helped her campaign for Clerk/Register of Deeds.  Brown gave her Clerk campaign committee $68,000 from from her Michigan House Campaign Committee with only $15,000 coming from actual contributions.

If she thought her vagina would help her beat Bullard in November, think again.  Up until last month, she’s had a pretty lackluster career as a state representative over the past four years.  So, she can’t run on her accomplishments.  She can’t run using abortion and other gender issues because they’re all irrelevant in this race.   She also has no background being an administrator.  As one county worker told me, “Lisa Brown would find the job as clerk boring because it’s one of the few elected positions in Michigan that requires you to be an actual administrator.” 

She can’t run on a platform of combating foreclosures because her brother, Randall S. Miller runs a multi-state foreclosure mill in suburban Detroit and he has also given her money.

I’ve written about alleged robo-signing at Miller’s office by people allegedly signing former employee, Jason Canvasser’s name on affidavits and mortgage assignments across Michigan.  This creates a serious liability for Lisa Brown because if it is discovered that her brother’s firm filed fraudulent documents with the Oakland County Register of Deeds office while she at the helm would she turn her brother over to the County Prosecutor, Michigan Attorney General or even the U.S. Prosecutor’s Office? Probably not.

Bullard’s political accomplishments in the Michigan Legislature (he has served in both houses) was actually quite impressive.  He also has one thing in his resume that Brown lacks, another elected position that requires you to be hands on.  From 1978-1982, Bullard served as Highland Township Supervisor.

In my opinion, his skills as an administrator are obvious for anyone who has to deal with the Oakland County Register of Deeds office like I do.  In 18 months, he has streamlined operations and made it more user friendly.  It is a definite improvement from the Helter-Skelter chaos that was left behind by Ruth Johnson.

I was all set to fully and enthusiastically endorse Bill Bullard until I saw his latest campaign finance report.  Bullard reports he received $4000 from Michigan’s King of the Foreclosure Mills, David Trott, from the Trott &Trott law firm.  He also took money from Peter Schneiderman, Neil Sherman, Linda Orlans and Brian Potestivo.  All of whom operate multi-state foreclosure mills.

So when you think about this race and have the opportunity to vote in it, ask yourself is blood thicker than money?