NEWS RELEASE

Woodrow Wilcox, Democratic candidate for Congress in the seventh district, applauds the announcement of a lawsuit by five candidates to force the Marion County Election Board to comply with Indiana law.  Wilcox learned of the announcement on advanceindiana.blogspot.com in an article by Gary R. Welsh which is entitled, “Five Non-Slated Candidates Sue Marion Co. Election Board Over Discriminatory Policy For Release Of Voter Registration Records” which was posted on Thursday, April 12, 2012.

Woodrow Wilcox applauds the lawsuit to force the Marion County Election Board to follow the law.  Woodrow Wilcox applauds Marion County Clerk Beth White for parting with the two major party political hacks on the board Mark Sullivan and Patrick Dietrick.

Woodrow Wilcox has had a similar experience with the Marion County Election Board and the Marion County Democratic Central Committee.  Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy has denied Wilcox access to the list of Marion County Democratic precinct committeeman and vice committeemen.  Ed Treacy even scheduled the Marion County Democratic Party caucus before the deadline for candidates to file.

“Once Ed Treacy’s favored candidates filed, he wanted a caucus.  He didn’t even wait until after the deadline for filing.  That’s either stupid or fascist or both!” Wilcox stated.

“Real American Democrats are not afraid of open discussion and debate, but fascists are afraid of discussion and debate.  In my opinion, the Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy is not leading the party in a democratic way, but in a fascist way,” Wilcox explained.

“Is Ed Treacy a ‘democrat’ or a ‘despotcrat?” Wilcox wondered.

Wilcox believes that precinct committeemen should be conduits for information to the residents of their respective neighborhoods for all candidates.  He believes that precinct committeemen can be respectful of all candidates while still having a favorite in each race.

“I have been a Democrat precinct committeeman.  That is the way that I operated.  It is a good way to treat both your neighbors and the candidates.  You don’t have to make any enemies that way.  It is easy to tell a neighbor who is running and how to contact any candidate for questions and tell them that my personal opinion is that candidate A or B is the better choice and here is why I believe that.  But, still, I’ll be happy to give you contact information on any candidate so that you can ask the questions that you have.  That was how I worked as a Democrat precinct committeeman,” Wilcox concluded.

# 30 #

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS NEWS RELEASE, PHONE 219-736-9450 OR 317-374-0589.

By Nick Carey

"GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end. House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low.

But a painful part two of the slump looks set to unfold: Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures.

"We are right back where we were two years ago. I would put money on 2012 being a bigger year for foreclosures than 2010," said Mark Seifert, executive director of Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), a counseling group with 10 offices in Ohio.

"Last year was an anomaly, and not in a good way," he said.

[Click here for home loan rates in your area.]

In 2011, the "robo-signing" scandal, in which foreclosure documents were signed without properly reviewing individual cases, prompted banks to hold back on new foreclosures pending a settlement.

Five major banks eventually struck that settlement with 49 U.S. states in February. Signs are growing the pace of foreclosures is picking up again, something housing experts predict will again weigh on home prices before any sustained recovery can occur.

Mortgage servicing provider Lender Processing Services reported in early March that U.S. foreclosure starts jumped 28 percent in January.

More conclusive national data is not yet available. But watchdog group, 4closurefraud.org which helped uncover the "robo-signing" scandal, says it has turned up evidence of a large rise in new foreclosures between March 1 and 24 by three big banks in Palm Beach County in Florida, one of the states hit hardest by the housing crash

Although foreclosure starts were 50 percent or more lower than for the same period in 2010, those begun by Deutsche Bank were up 47 percent from 2011. Those of Wells Fargo's rose 68 percent and Bank of America's, including BAC Home Loans Servicing, jumped nearly seven-fold -- 251 starts versus 37 in the same period in 2011. Bank of America said it does not comment on data provided by other sources. Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank did not comment.

Housing experts say localized warning signs of a new wave of foreclosure are likely to be replicated across much of the United States.

Online foreclosure marketplace RealtyTrac estimated that while foreclosures dropped slightly nationwide in February from January and from February 2011, they rose in 21 states and jumped sharply in cities like Tampa (64 percent), Chicago (43 percent) and Miami (53 percent).

RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore said the "numbers point to a gradually rising foreclosure tide as some of the barriers that have been holding back foreclosures are removed."

One big difference to the early years of the housing crisis, which was dominated by Americans saddled with the most toxic subprime products -- with high interest rates where banks asked for no money down or no proof of income -- is that today it's mostly Americans with ordinary mortgages whose ability to meet payment have been hit by the hard economic times.

"The subprime stuff is long gone," said Michael Redman, founder of 4closurefraud.org. "Now the folks being affected are hardworking, everyday Americans struggling because of the economy."

"HARD TO CATCH UP"

Until December 2010, Daniel Burns, 52, had spent his working life in the trucking industry as a long-haul driver and manager. When daily loads at the small family business where he worked tailed off, he lost his job.

Unable to cover his mortgage, Burns received a grant from a government fund using money repaid from the 2008 bank bailout. That grant is due to expire in early 2013 and Burns is holding out on hopeful comments from his former employer that he might get his job back if the economy recovers.

"If things don't pick up, I will be out on the street," he said, staring from his living room window at two abandoned houses over the road in the middle-class Cleveland suburb of Garfield Heights, the noise of traffic from a nearby Interstate highway filling the street.

Underscoring the uncertainty of his situation, Burns' cell phone rings and a pre-recorded message announces that his unemployment benefits are due to be cut off in April.

A bit further up the shore of Lake Erie, Cristal Fell, who works night shifts entering data for a trucking company in Toledo, has fallen behind on her mortgage a second time because her ex-husband lost his job and her overtime was cut.

"Once you get behind it's so hard to catch up," she said.

Fell, a mother of four, hopes the economy will gather enough speed to help her avoid any risk of losing her home. Her ex-husband has found a new job and she is getting more overtime, so she hopes she can catch up on her mortgage by the fall.

Burns and Fell are the new face of the U.S. housing crisis: Middle class, suburban or rural with a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage at a reasonable interest rate, but unemployed or underemployed. Although the national unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3 percent from its peak of 10 percent in October 2009, nearly 13 million Americans remain jobless, meaning many are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments.

Real estate company Zillow Inc says more than one in four American homeowners were "under water" or owed more than their homes were worth in the fourth quarter of 2011. The crisis has wiped out some $7 trillion in U.S. household wealth.

"We're seeing more people coming through who have good loans with reasonable interest rates," said Ed Jacob, executive director of non-profit lender Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Inc, which provides foreclosure counseling. "But in many households only one person works now instead of two, or they had their hours cut."

"The answer to the housing crisis now is job creation."

EARLY SIGNS OF UPTICK?

Zillow expects the resurgence in foreclosures this year, combined with excess inventory of unsold, bank-owned homes will contribute to a 3.7 percent national decline in prices before the market hits bottom in 2013 and stays there until 2016.

"The hangover from this crisis will far outlast the party of the boom years," said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries.

Getting through the remaining foreclosures and dealing with the resulting flood of homes on the market in the wake of the bank settlement is a necessary part of the healing process for the U.S. housing market, he added.

According to leading broker dealer Amherst Securities, some 9.5 million homes are still at risk of default and in February it said it expected to see the uptick in foreclosures start to hit in March and April.

There is other evidence that many of the foreclosures that did not happen in 2011 will happen this year.

A January report by the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project in New York found that in the first half of 2011 the number of 90-day pre-foreclosure notices in New York City outnumbered court foreclosure actions by a ratio of 14 to one, indicating that while proceedings were initiated against many homeowners, they were left incomplete.

"Now the banks have a settlement, foreclosure numbers for 2012 are going to be high," said NEDAP co-director Josh Zinner.

A recent survey by the California Reinvestment Coalition, an umbrella group of nearly 300 non-profit groups in the state, of member agencies found 75 percent of respondents expected increased demand for their foreclosure prevention services in 2012 but more than a third had to scale back services because of funding cuts.

"Funding is a major concern given what our members expect for this year," said associate director Kevin Stein.

All this has non-profits intensifying calls for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to drop its opposition to allowing the government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac it regulates to reduce principal for underwater homeowners.

Principal reduction involves reducing the amount borrowers owe in order to make a loan modification affordable for struggling homeowners. Republicans and the FHFA oppose principal reduction because of the risk of "moral hazard"- that homeowners who do not need help will seek to abuse largesse and have their mortgages reduced too.

ESOP in Ohio engages in "hits" on Chase branches -- they say Chase is the least accommodating major bank when it comes to working with struggling homeowners -- where they try to hand letters to bank mangers calling on chief executive Jamie Dimon to lobby FHFA head Edward DeMarco for principal reductions. A Chase spokeswoman said the bank has made "extensive efforts" to work with homeowners, helping 775,000 borrowers stay in their homes since early 2009, avoiding foreclosure "more than twice as often as we have had to foreclose." Housing groups like ESOP maintain, as they have throughout the housing crisis, that unless the FHFA embraces widespread principal reduction, many more under water borrowers face losing their homes.

"Until banks engage in meaningful principal reduction as a matter of course," ESOP's Seifert said after a recent protest at a Chase branch in Cleveland, "this crisis will not end."

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Martin Howell and William Schomberg; Desking by Andrew Hay)"

MY JOHN F. KENNEDY STORY

By Woodrow Wilcox

When I lived in Nevada in 1986, I helped a friend to run for the Democratic Party’s nomination for U.S. Senate.  My friend ran against Harry Reid.

My friend was Paul Fisher who was the engineer who invented a way to make pens that did not need gravity to work.  He designed the pens for weightless space travel.  Since he invented and patented his “space pens”, the pens have been used on all U.S. and Russian space flights.

A few years after that, Paul Fisher introduced me to the man who had been the attorney that ran the 1960 campaign of John F. Kennedy for president.  When I visited with both of these distinguished men, I learned a very interesting story and a lesson which I have applied in my life.

Paul Fisher ran against John F. Kennedy for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in the 1960 New Hampshire primary election.  At one event, a meet and hear the Democratic Party candidates was supposed to happen.  But, the master of ceremonies did not want to let Paul Fisher or any candidate other than John F. Kennedy speak.  It was a case of a stupid “party” man trying to “rig” things to favor his candidate.

But, John F. Kennedy would not stand for it.  Kennedy insisted that the master of ceremonies allow Paul Fisher to speak.  Kennedy was a fair minded man who was not afraid of discussing issues with an opponent.

Later, Paul Fisher thanked John Kennedy for his fair minded attitude.  Paul Fisher and John Kennedy became good friends from the experience.

When John F. Kennedy was President, he called my friend Paul Fisher for advice.  Kennedy admitted that he did not know anything about pens and that Paul Fisher was an expert in the design and manufacture of pens.  Kennedy asked Paul Fisher for help in writing government rules for pens that needed to be purchased to use in post offices, military bases, and various government offices.  Paul Fisher agreed to help.

My friend Paul Fisher wrote suggested rules for Kennedy which Kennedy used to ask for bids to sell pens to the government.  Paul Fisher refused to let his company bid for the government contracts.  He wrote the rules to help Kennedy get the most suitable pens at the least expense for the federal government.  Because these two men became friends and worked together, taxpayers saved millions of dollars when the government avoided buying pens that would not suit the government’s needs.

The lesson that I learned is that good men can treat competitors as competitors and not as enemies.  If that rule is followed, many good things can flow from it.

Earlier this year, I applied this idea in a situation with another Democratic Party candidate for Congress for the new Indiana District Seven.  After, I filed to run for Congress, Bob Kern phoned me.  We were competitors.  But, I treated him like John Kennedy treated my friend Paul Fisher.

“Well, Bob,” I said.  “Since you don’t want Andre Carson to win re-election, and I don’t want Andre Carson to win re-election, then I hope that this phone call is the beginning of a wonderful friendship!”

Bob Kern laughed.  Ever since then, Bob Kern and I have been friendly competitors for the Democratic Party nomination for Congress for Indiana District Seven.

I learned how to do this from my friend Paul Fisher
and his friend John F. Kennedy.

© 2012  Woodrow Wilcox

Note: Woodrow Wilcox is running for Congress in Indianapolis.  His website is www.ElectWilcox.com.

PAID FOR BY WOODROW WILCOX FOR CONGRESS

By Manuel Valdes, Associated Press | Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) -- When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.

Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn't see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.

Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn't want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.

In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.

"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."

Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.

Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.

Companies that don't ask for passwords have taken other steps — such as asking applicants to friend human resource managers or to log in to a company computer during an interview. Once employed, some workers have been required to sign non-disparagement agreements that ban them from talking negatively about an employer on social media.

Asking for a candidate's password is more prevalent among public agencies, especially those seeking to fill law enforcement positions such as police officers or 911 dispatchers.

Back in 2010, Robert Collins was returning to his job as a security guard at the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services after taking a leave following his mother's death. During a reinstatement interview, he was asked for his login and password, purportedly so the agency could check for any gang affiliations. He was stunned by the request but complied.

"I needed my job to feed my family. I had to," he recalled,

After the ACLU complained about the practice, the agency amended its policy, asking instead for job applicants to log in during interviews.

"To me, that's still invasive. I can appreciate the desire to learn more about the applicant, but it's still a violation of people's personal privacy," said Collins, whose case inspired Maryland's legislation.

Until last year, the city of Bozeman, Mont., had a long-standing policy of asking job applicants for passwords to their email addresses, social-networking websites and other online accounts.

And since 2006, the McLean County, Ill., sheriff's office has been one of several Illinois sheriff's departments that ask applicants to sign into social media sites to be screened.

Chief Deputy Rusty Thomas defended the practice, saying applicants have a right to refuse. But no one has ever done so. Thomas said that "speaks well of the people we have apply."

When asked what sort of material would jeopardize job prospects, Thomas said "it depends on the situation" but could include "inappropriate pictures or relationships with people who are underage, illegal behavior."

In Spotsylvania County, Va., the sheriff's department asks applicants to friend background investigators for jobs at the 911 dispatch center and for law enforcement positions.

"In the past, we've talked to friends and neighbors, but a lot of times we found that applicants interact more through social media sites than they do with real friends," said Capt. Mike Harvey. "Their virtual friends will know more about them than a person living 30 yards away from them."

Harvey said investigators look for any "derogatory" behavior that could damage the agency's reputation.

E. Chandlee Bryan, a career coach and co-author of the book "The Twitter Job Search Guide," said job seekers should always be aware of what's on their social media sites and assume someone is going to look at it.

Bryan said she is troubled by companies asking for logins, but she feels it's not a violation if an employer asks to see a Facebook profile through a friend request. And she's not troubled by non-disparagement agreements.

"I think that when you work for a company, they are essentially supporting you in exchange for your work. I think if you're dissatisfied, you should go to them and not on a social media site," she said.

More companies are also using third-party applications to scour Facebook profiles, Bryan said. One app called BeKnown can sometimes access personal profiles, short of wall messages, if a job seeker allows it.

Sears is one of the companies using apps. An applicant has the option of logging into the Sears job site through Facebook by allowing a third-party application to draw information from the profile, such as friend lists.

Sears Holdings Inc. spokeswoman Kim Freely said using a Facebook profile to apply allows Sears to be updated on the applicant's work history.

The company assumes "that people keep their social profiles updated to the minute, which allows us to consider them for other jobs in the future or for ones that they may not realize are available currently," she said.

Giving out Facebook login information violates the social network's terms of service. But those terms have no real legal weight, and experts say the legality of asking for such information remains murky.

The Department of Justice regards it as a federal crime to enter a social networking site in violation of the terms of service, but during recent congressional testimony, the agency said such violations would not be prosecuted.

But Lori Andrews, law professor at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law specializing in Internet privacy, is concerned about the pressure placed on applicants, even if they voluntarily provide access to social sites.

"Volunteering is coercion if you need a job," Andrews said.

Neither Facebook nor Twitter responded to repeated requests for comment.

In New York, Bassett considered himself lucky that he was able to turn down the consulting gig at a lobbying firm.

"I think asking for account login credentials is regressive," he said. "If you need to put food on the table for your three kids, you can't afford to stand up for your belief."

___

McFarland reported from Springfield, Ill.

___

Manuel Valdes can be reached at https://twitter.com/ByManuelValdes .

Shannon McFarland can be reached at https://twitter.com/shanmcf .

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