Ad campaign featuring widow foreclosed on by Mnuchin’s bank expands to FL, VA, CO, MO, and DE targeting key Senators, urging them to reject Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2017
Contact: Kurt Walters, 202-630-0299
[email protected]
Today, Demand Progress Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and Allied Progress Action are doubling down on pressure against senators to oppose Steven Mnuchin, expanding an ad campaign that MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called the “most effective ad we’ve seen since the election ended.”
The six-figure ad buy will expand to new states to target several senators for the first time: Florida (Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson), Missouri (Sen. Claire McCaskill), Colorado (Sen. Michael Bennet), Delaware (Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper), and Virginia (Sen. Mark Warner).
The ad will also continue to air in Arizona (Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain), Nevada (Sen. Dean Heller), and Iowa (Sens. Chuck Grassley, and Joni Ernst). Sens. Heller, Grassley, Nelson, McCaskill, Carper, Bennet, and Warner are on the Senate Finance Committee that will hold an upcoming vote on Steven Mnuchin’s nomination to be Treasury Secretary.
Demand Progress, PCCC & Allied Progress Ad Featuring Widow Kicked Out of Her Home by Steven Mnuchin’s Bank
www.RejectMnuchin.org
About the anti-Mnuchin ad:
- Features the story of Lisa Fraser, a widow whose home was aggressively foreclosed on by Trump Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin’s bank OneWest, while her husband was battling terminal cancer — despite a long history of on-time payments.
- The ad will air on Wednesday, January 25 and Thursday, January 26 ahead of the Finance Committee’s vote on Mnuchin’s nomination.It will air on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa, FL; St. Louis and Kansas City, MO; Denver and Colorado Springs, CO; Wilmington, DE; Richmond and Norfolk, VA; Tucson and Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas and Reno, NV; Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, IA; and Washington, DC. The ad initially aired in AZ, NV, IA, and DC last week.
- ‘Foreclosure King’ Steven Mnuchin made millionsby foreclosing on more than 36,000 homes— including a 90-year-old woman who was evicted over a 27 cent payment error. The bank he ran as CEO, OneWest, has been accused of “widespread misconduct” by the California Attorney General’s office, including falsely backdating documents, unlawfully evading tax obligations, and foreclosing without valid legal authority.
- In 2009, a New York judge called OneWest’s actions “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” and ruled against the bank in a civil case featuring the same foreclosure practices used against Fraser.
- Mnuchin has saidthat the purchase of OneWest was “one of the most proud aspects of [his] career”and that he’s “proud of his record at OneWest.”
- The ad links to a joint grassroots petition at org, calling on every senator to join Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others who have said they will oppose Mnuchin’s confirmation. Grassroots members have sent in more than 660,000 petition signatures to the Senate to reject his nomination.
- Allied Progress launchedads in Arizona and Nevada on January 4, 2017 targeting Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Dean Heller (R-NV) to reject Mnuchin. The ad, entitled “Best,”highlighted how former Goldman Sachs banker Mnuchin made millions of dollars off the foreclosures of thousands of family homes — including in Arizona and Nevada where the foreclosure crisis during the Great Recession was particularly horrific.
- The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action, Demand Progress Action combined have over 3 million members nationwide.
Statements from Progressive Groups Behind the Anti-Mnuchin Ad:
Kurt Walters, Campaign Director, Demand Progress Action: “Owning a home is not only a dream for millions of Americans, it is also the largest investment most will make in their lifetimes. Steven Mnuchin ran OneWest bank as a foreclosure machine, ripping the financial rug out from underneath thousands of homeowners like Lisa, using fraudulent practices to take people’s homes and line his own pockets.
“Last week’s hearing only made it more clear that Steven Mnuchin is unqualified to make decisions about the direction of our entire economy at the Treasury Department, both out of his depth and apparently unconcerned by how his choices harm ordinary Americans.”
Karl Frisch, Executive Director, Allied Progress: “Tens-of-thousands of Americans just like Lisa were wrongly foreclosed on by Steven Mnuchin’s bank. They lost their family homes while he lined his pockets with hundreds of millions of dollars. He’s an economic predator and he shouldn’t be confirmed as Treasury Secretary.”
Stephanie Taylor, Co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee: “‘Foreclosure King’ Steven Mnuchin has made millions by taking people’s homes and plans on killing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mnuchin is the poster child for how Trump has betrayed America’s working families by turning over our economy to Goldman Sachs bankers and Wall Street billionaires. All Senators on the Finance Committee — Democratic and Republican — owe it to their constituents to vote no on Mnuchin.”
Coverage of Anti-Mnuchin Ad:
NEW YORK TIMES: Liberals set their sights on Trump’s Treasury pick
A coalition of liberal groups, including the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action and Demand Progress Action, will begin a television advertising campaign aimed at Steven Mnuchin, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury, for his leadership of a Southern California bank known for its aggressive foreclosures.
The ad featuring Lisa Fraser, a widow whose house was foreclosed on by the bank, OneWest, will begin airing Wednesday in the states of five Republican senators: Dean Heller of Nevada, Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona, and Charles E. Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa.
CNN: Treasury pick Mnuchin will defend record on foreclosures
Liberal groups are airing a television ad featuring a widow who charges she improperly lost her home after her husband died. Mnuchin plans to say he was concerned with the foreclosure practices while he ran the bank, but was given no choice by federal rules he was required to follow.
POLITICO: How Mnuchin flipped the ultimate fixer-upper — his bank
Senate Democrats have invited aggrieved borrowers to the Capitol to tell their stories about Mnuchin’s bank while protesters march outside his $26 million Bel Air home. Progressive groups are targeting Republicans with TV ads labeling Mnuchin the “foreclosure king,” a Wall Street insider who made millions off of homeowners dragged under by the crisis.
NEW YORK TIMES: Mnuchin’s business background comes into focus
Mr. Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary has become a top target for progressive groups that see the former Goldman Sachs banker as a ripe target for populist frustration at the rich.
Three groups have even aired a television commercial ahead of his hearing with the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, painting him as a “foreclosure king” who made a fortune off the financial crisis.
POLITICO: Groups launch new wave of anti-Mnuchin ads
Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin today will face a fresh set of television ads designed to pressure Republican senators to oppose his nomination.
The ad paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action, and Demand Progress Action will feature the story of a widow whose home was foreclosed on by a bank that Mnuchin once led, OneWest.
Controversy around the bank’s foreclosure practices has become the Democrats’ main avenue of attack against Mnuchin’s nomination.
HUFFINGTON POST: Progressives Fight Trump Treasury Pick Using Tactics That Sunk Mitt Romney In 2012
A trio of progressive advocacy groups ― Allied Progress, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Demand Progress ― released a new ad on Wednesday urging voters to tell their senators to oppose Mnuchin because of his ties to the California bank OneWest, which he ran from 2009 to 2015.
PCCC co-founder Stephanie Taylor similarly accused Mnuchin of caring for nothing but his bottom line. “Mnuchin is the poster child for how Trump is betraying America’s working families, including his own voters, by turning over our economy to Goldman Sachs bankers and giant corporations. Mnuchin represents corruption and he should not be running our economy, period,” she said.
POLITICO: MORNING MONEY: New Ads Target Mnuchin
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee along with Allied Progress Action and Demand Progress Action on Wednesday is going up with new ads targeting Treasury nominee Steven Mnuchin over his tenure at OneWest Bank. The ads will begin airing on MSNBC, CNN and FOX News, a day before Mnuchin’s hearing at Senate Finance and will run over 400 times in Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, and Washington, DC, according to the group.
Per Stephanie Taylor, cofounder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee: “Steven Mnuchin, the ‘Foreclosure King,’ made millions by taking people’s homes with no regard for anything but his own bottom line. Mnuchin is the poster child for how Trump is betraying America’s working families.”
ABC: THE NOTE: Anti-Mnuchin Ad from PCCC, Allied Progress, and Demand Progress
The new TV ad that launched today features Lisa Fraser, a widow whose house was foreclosed on by OneWest, a bank formerly chaired by Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action, and Demand Progress Action. The ad will run in Nevada, Arizona, Iowa and Washington DC, targeting the five Republican senators in those states. LINK: https://youtu.be/1R-E0Cxhj2Q
NATIONAL JOURNAL: HOTLINE: Liberal Groups Launch TV Campaign on Treasury Secretary
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Allied Progress Action, and Demand Progress Action launched a TV ad Wednesday targeting five senators over Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin: Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV); Jeff Flake (R-AZ); John McCain (R-AZ); Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Joni Ernst (R-IA). The spot, which features a homeowner whose house was foreclosed on by Mnuchin’s bank, will air more than 400 times.
NBC: First Read’s Morning Clips
Liberal groups are airing a new TV ad hitting Trump Treasury pick Steve Mnuchin. “Steve Mnuchin ran the bank that committed fraud and took my home,” a woman says in the ad.
NEW YORK POST: Attack ad allegedly depicts widow ‘kicked out’ by Mnuchin’s bank
Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin’s biggest challenger may be a 61-year old widow who runs a kite shop on the Oregon coast.
In the 30-second ad, which is slated to run on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC, Fraser blames Trump’s Treasury pick for kicking her out of her home after her husband John died on Feb. 15, 2016.
“We did everything the bank asked,” Fraser says in the ad. “They lied to us, and took our home anyway. John spent his last days terrified that I’d be homeless—and then they kicked me out right after the funeral.”
###