It takes a village

I finally have come to my senses about The Billary's claim that "it takes a village".

In fact, it does take a village..... to take care of a "progressive" congress woman's property........

John Bailey thought it was great when his neighbor was elected to the House of Representatives in 2007.

"Not everyone lives next door to a congresswoman," he said.

But two years later, he doesn't feel so lucky. The congresswoman's house is abandoned and in disrepair, "a blight on the neighborhood," Bailey said.

He thinks the way that Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) has treated her Sacramento home tells far more about her than her voting record.

"I wouldn't want anyone that irresponsible to represent me," said Bailey, like Richardson a liberal Democrat. "What I don't get is how she has the time to visit with Fidel Castro but doesn't have time for her own house. If you can't manage your own household, you probably shouldn't get involved in international affairs."

He's not alone. Neighbors have complained to the city, written letters and e-mails to Richardson and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , but the three-bedroom house remains an eyesore. Neighbors just wish she would sell it or let it go into foreclosure, anything to get it into the hands of someone who would care.

"She shows total disregard for everyone in the neighborhood," said Sean Padovan, a retired police sergeant. "She ought to be embarrassed and ashamed."

Richardson did not return phone calls for this story.

The problems with the house began shortly after Richardson was elected to the Assembly in 2006 from Long Beach and bought the two-story house in the leafy Curtis Park neighborhood.

It wasn't long before Padovan, 62, angry that the lawn wasn't being mowed, knocked on Richardson's door, told her he was a neighbor and asked if she minded if he cut the grass. He hauled out his hand mower, and when Richardson still seemed to have no interest in taking care of her yard, he stuck a gardener's card in her door with a note saying that she should call him if she had questions.

Read the rest......

What's even better? Richardson is now facing an ethics probe as her home was foreclosed on purchased by a third party and given back to a bank.

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson's rundown Sacramento house, which became the scourge of the neighborhood and a sore point with an investor who thought he had bought it out of foreclosure, has drawn the interest of a House ethics panel.

The Office of Congressional Ethics contacted real estate investor James York, who bought Richardson's house at a foreclosure auction last year, only to have Washington Mutual take it back after he had recorded the deed and return the house to the congresswoman.

More......