With Orange County’s real estate and mortgage industry-driven economy in shambles and local home foreclosures on the rise, you might think that our Republican politicians would want to distance themselves from those who are profiting from the misery of Orange County voters who have lost or are about to lose their homes.
Not so.
The Orange County Business Journal recently featured a glowing cover article on local Republican contributor, fundraiser, and king-maker Dale Dykema, founder and chief executive of Santa Ana-based T.D. Service Financial Corp, which bills itself as “one of the nation’s largest and most successful†foreclosure processing firms.
Not surprisingly, Dykema’s firm is “looking at record profits this year amid the foreclosure wave.â€
According to the Business Journal, Dykema has helped lenders foreclose on more than 450,000 homes, and expects the current foreclosure crisis to make this his best year ever, with his company taking in more than $70 million in foreclosure fees.
Dykema also expects his good fortune to continue as the local economy tanks.
As Dykema told the Business Journal, “It takes time for the foreclosures to hit after the economy dropped. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit a peak next year for this time around.â€
The focus of the Business Journal article, however, was not on Dykema’s success as a foreclosure-profiteer or his record profits, but on his role as an Orange County GOP king-maker.
Dykema, the Business Journal explained, “has helped GOP congressmen get elected with money and campaign advice. His beneficiaries include nearly all of the county’s congressional delegation: John Campbell, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrbacher, Ken Calvert, John Lewis, as well as former congressman and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox.â€
According to the Campaign Money website, Dykema contributed $54,450 to Republicans in 2008.  He is also responsible for raising many thousands more from others.
Of course, all of the current GOP congressmen on this list voted against the stimulus legislation intended to relieve the economic crisis from which Dykema is profiting.
All of them oppose efforts to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.
And all of them, including former congressman Chris Cox, were instrumental in creating the deregulated mortgage mess that lead to the foreclosure crisis in the first place.
Amidst the rubble of Orange County’s housing market, Dykema and his Orange County Republican cronies can be proud of helping at least one business expand:
Dykema’s.
What a a load of crock.
Do logic and truth have no place in liberal thinking?
Thanks so much, Matt, for the comment.
I’m thrilled that you’re reading my posts.
Nice to see, too, that you’re as direct and eloquent as ever.
But your comment would have been more interesting if you had cited a single instance of “crock†in my post.
As for the question of truth, all the facts were from the Orange County Business Journal.
Was the Business Journal wrong in reporting that Dale Dykema is making a killing from foreclosures on Orange County homeowners?
Was the Business Journal wrong in reporting that Dale Dykema is a powerful funding source and behind-the-scenes king-maker for the Orange County Republican Party?
And haven’t every one of these Republican phonies backed by Dykema voted for the deregulation of banking and the mortgage industry — and voted against every effort to help homeowners in trouble?
Now that’s the truth.
The logic is that the Orange County GOP profits from home foreclosures and the economic collapse of the middle class.
Because I’m not a Republican insider who is privy to their cocktail party chatter, I did not say that Dykema and his Orange County Republican tools are laughing at the county’s middle class voters who for so long have bought the GOP’s snake oil rhetoric of xenophobia and militarism while their incomes fall and their homes are taken away.
So, tell me. Are they laughing?
Or are they afraid that voters will finally see the truth and vote the logic of the GOP’s attack on the middle class?
OK, Michael, let’s start with your headline: Give me a single example of how Dale “rules the Orange County Republican Party.”
Next: you claim “The logic is that the Orange County GOP profits from home foreclosures and the economic collapse of the middle class.”,/i>
How, precisely, does the Republican Party of orange County profit from that?
And I’m curious: do you claim it is morally wrong to process foreclosure paperwork?
Sorry, Michael: I didn’t want to waste any eloquence on this gratuitous, illogical post.
But since you asked for specifics, let’s start with your headline: Give me a single example of how Dale “rules the Orange County Republican Party.â€
Next: you claim “The logic is that the Orange County GOP profits from home foreclosures and the economic collapse of the middle class.â€
How, precisely, does the Republican Party of orange County profit from that?
And I’m curious: do you claim it is morally wrong to process foreclosure paperwork?
1. How Does Foreclosure King Rule OC Republican Party?
Dykema, with $70 million in foreclosure fee just this year, “has helped GOP congressmen get elected with money and campaign advice. His beneficiaries include nearly all of the county’s congressional delegation: John Campbell, Ed Royce, Dana Rohrbacher, Ken Calvert, John Lewis, as well as former congressman and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox.†Orange County Business Journal
2. How Does the Orange County GOP Profit from Foreclosure?
Well, to start, they get a piece of the profit from Dykema’s 450,000 foreclosures and his $70 million in foreclosure fees.
3. Is it Morally Wrong to Process Foreclosure Paperwork?
I am not making a moral argument, Matt.
I’m talking common sense for Orange County’s middle class voters.
“Dykema, with $70 million in foreclosure fee just this year, “has helped GOP congressmen get elected with money and campaign advice…”
Michael, you’re engaged in making the facts lie for you by twisting them. The OCBJ article does not say Dykema used that $70 million to elect congressmen. That is you’re invention.
The article merely states that Dale has been helping elect Republicans for many, many years.
And that hardly constitutes “ruling” the OC GOP — that, again, is your invention, not truth.
Well, to start, they get a piece of the profit from Dykema’s 450,000 foreclosures and his $70 million in foreclosure fees.
Two problems with that, Michael. How do you know “they” get a “piece of the profit”? What percentage? Or are you simply making a big assumption?
Secondly, those aren’t Dale’s foreclosures. His company processes the paperwork. Perhaps you can point out what it wrong with that?
“I am not making a moral argument, Matt.”
But you are making one. Your post is a long insinuation that Dykema’s business is doing something wrong, that he’s somehow sticking it to the middle class.
I’m talking common sense for Orange County’s middle class voters.”
But your post doesn’t make sense. On the contrary, it is illogical, inaccurate well-written nonsense.
Matt: Thanks again for the comments. At this point, I’ll let my post, and my earlier replies, speak for themselves.