The National Association of Realtors has gone to bat for Rep. Al Wynn, dropping literature in the mail Wednesday and airing TV ads this week that say the eight-term incumbent is “stepping up for working families,” as groups backing his rival make the opposite claim.
Mary Trupo, a spokeswoman for the real estate lobbying group, declined to say how much money was being spent on the ad effort, which comes as Wynn, D-Md., tries to defend himself from radio, TV and print ads attacking his record from groups backing his main competitor, Donna Edwards.
The ads praise the congressman for acting to protect working families from predatory lenders, passing tax relief and expanding options for affordable housing.
Trupo says the real estate group is pleased with Wynn’s support for what they see as “really grassroots, consumer issues and family-friendly legislation,” and the organization backs “anything that would help keep people in their homes.”
The National Association of Realtors, however, also backed bankruptcy-reform legislation that Wynn supported in 2005; because, according to its Web site, the bill “closes the loophole that allows residential tenants to avoid or delay eviction by declaring bankruptcy.”
Wynn says he supported the bill to protect small businesses, but an ad campaign launched by the Service Employees International Union says Wynn’s support for the measure “hurt families burdened with debt and has made the foreclosure crisis even worse.”
There were more than twice as many foreclosures in Prince George’s County — 4,187 — during the first nine months of 2007 as in any other Maryland county, and both candidates have focused on the crisis in their campaigning.
Wynn announced last week that he is drafting legislation under which a foreclosure would not appear on the consumer’s credit report.
Edwards, who came within 3 percentage points of defeating Wynn during the 2006 primary, says she wants to revise bankruptcy reform bills to enable consumers to restructure mortgage loans and other consumer obligations through bankruptcy courts.
