Editorial: Senate fiddles, foreclosures keep climbing

There’s nobody in charge of the Ohio Senate. Senate President Bill Harris, the Marine from Ashland who’s retiring this year, is ducking out early.

It’s sad. Sen. Harris deserves a prouder legacy. He could, if he wanted, take a few more hills for the benefit of Ohioans.

Consider the problem of foreclosures, which are on track to top last year’s number of almost 90,000. Yet, the Senate is sitting on its hands, refusing to entertain legislation from the Democratic-controlled Ohio House of Representatives...

Democrats are desperate to get agreement on giving homeowners’ help. They’ve said they’ll give up on a moratorium; they think an increase in the $500 foreclosure fee is necessary to pay for the counseling that could help people avoid foreclosure, but they know they’ll have to ratchet down their expectations.

Surely, though, the two sides ought to be able to come together on the need to regulate servicers. Under the law, servicers have every financial incentive to foreclose rather than work with borrowers — even when it’s in the interest of lenders, not just homeowners, to waive crushing late fees and penalties or to reduce a loan’s interest rate.

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If President Harris were really engaged, if he weren’t letting the people who want to succeed him try to fill the power vacuum, something could get done.

There’s no question that Republicans and Democrats have sincere philosophical disagreements about how much government can and should do to stem the foreclosure crisis. But their disagreements shouldn’t be an excuse to do nothing when people are losing their homes not because they can’t pay toward their mortgage, but because they can’t find someone to negotiate with about a payment plan.

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If you want to get philosophical, the foreclosure epidemic is a “wealth destroying” economic phenomenon. Families and lenders, neighborhoods and the economy generally, are being dragged down because the foreclosures just keep coming. Some could be prevented if Ohio’s political leaders would come together. As president of the Senate, Sen. Harris could insist that there are things Republicans and Democrats can agree on.

In politics especially, you’re remembered for the last thing you do. Sen. Harris has quit too soon.

Read the full article here.