Who is Herb Sandler?

Dwayne Horner | February 25, 2009 8:45 PM

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Just who is the man Herb Sandler? First he's embroiled in scandal and second he's a liberal financier of left-wing causes. I posted back on Feb. 16th the story from 60 Minutes that him and his wife bilked people into engaging in loans where their payments didn't even cover the interest on the loan -- so these poor people got poorer and poorer every time they made a house payment.

Understand Sandler created the Center For Responsible Lending "who was described by the New York Times as a founder of the organization and an active promoter of the optional adjustable-rate mortgage. Critics have charged that optional ARMs played a key role in bringing on the current financial crisis because they allowed borrowers to sometimes make mortgage payments that were so small they did not cover the interest on the loan. Critics pointed out that this practice actually left the loan larger at the end of the month rather than smaller as homeowners would expect."

Some of the highlights of Mr. Sandler include:

• In 1963, Herb Sandler and his wife Marion started Golden West Financial under the name World Savings Bank.

• While running World Savings Bank, Herb Sandler actively promoted option adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), called Pick-A-Pay. ARMs are said to have played a key role in bringing on the current financial crisis.

• In 2002, Sandler and his wife Marion founded the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). While to the public, this name sounds professional, truly it was a way to advance their business interests and their left-wing causes. He went on to serve on CRL's board.

• In 2006, just before the housing crash, the Sandlers sold their bank to Wachovia and pocketed $2.3 billion. Ultimately, because of the actions of the Sandlers, it caused extreme losses to taxpayers and Wells Fargo was forced to bailout Wachovia in one of the first instances of what today is a series of bailouts.

• The losses from the Pick-A-Payment portfolio, which is another aspect of the Sandlers scandal, are now estimated at $36 billion. Pick-A-Payment basically is a scam where you are simply paying the interest and never getting the principle reduced.

• By 2007, The Sander Foundation had given more than $20 million to the Center for Responsible Lending.

• In February 2009, Time Magazine named the Sandlers among the “25 people to blame for the financial crisis.”

This progressive liberal caused a massive amount of pain to ordinary Americans and is one of the left's financiers. Sandler founded the liberal special interest organization Center for American Progress and ProPublica, a so-called "investigative journalist outfit." How can one honestly believe a man who swindled millions for Americans and have funded liberal special interest groups even claim to have a "independent" organization?

Ask all those who have suffered at the hands of Sandler if they think he can be trustworthy?