Chicago-area sheriff refuses to participate in evictions
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Home, Real Estate, Bankruptcy, Mortgage Confidential
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In Christopher Buckley's Thank You for Smoking, the main character, Nick Naylor, is a tobacco lobbyist. As his job pushes him to ever deeper levels of moral depravity, he repeatedly states, half-ironically, that he claims the Nuremberg defense: at the end of the day, he is "only following orders." After all, he, like everybody else, has to clothe his family, pay his mortgage, and put food on the table. If these responsibilities mean that his moral sense sometimes has to take a back seat, then such is life. The trouble, of course, is that the Nuremberg defense didn't even work at Nuremberg, although it did inspire the U.S. military to state that its soldiers are allowed to refuse unlawful orders. This is particularly important as the mortgage crisis heats up. Over the next few months, more and more law enforcement officials will be called upon to evict people from their homes; some would argue (and, no doubt, will argue) that the rule of law and the economy require that evictions be carried out in a smooth and reliable manner. After all (as the reasoning goes) the stick of foreclosure and the carrot of a good credit score are necessary to force people to live up to their financial responsibilities. On the other hand, others will probably wonder if voters should be paying their law enforcement officials to be stormtroopers for a crumbling and poorly-run financial sector.
Tom Dart, Sheriff of Chicago's Cook County, recently took a stand on this issue, stating that his office will no longer "surprise tenants" with eviction orders. His argument is that landlords are often unable or unwilling to make mortgage payments, even though they are receiving rent. When this happens, the Sheriff's office is called in to forcibly evict innocent tenants. Dart claims that this is illegal, that the financial institutions are failing to perform their necessary due diligence, and that it exposes his office to legal liability. He notes that he has tried to institute reforms that would help him to connect renters to city social services and more strictly police banks, only to have these reforms blocked by financial lobbyists. In Dart's words, "We won't be doing the banks' work for them anymore." This may carry serious repercussions for Dart, who states that "I may be held in contempt of court over this [but] until the banking industry steps up and does the right thing, I won't continue to risk violating the law and open taxpayers to further liability."
It may seem odd to compare forcible evictions to the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, the Spanish Inquisition, or Cambodia's killing fields, yet every one of these tragedies was, in some level, the effect of a series of people who were all just following orders. I'm sure that, in the 1950's and '60's, there were law enforcement officials in the South who, while turning firehoses and German shepherds on protesters, found themselves wondering if they were still on the side of the angels. Luckily, while there will always be people who "just follow orders," there will also be the few who move beyond the strict boundaries of their jobs and find ways to maintain their humanity and morality. Here's hoping that Cook County will give Tom Dart the praise and support that he deserves!
Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. Once again, he's thanking his lucky stars that he didn't buy that house in Roanoke.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-14-2008 @ 3:05PM
Eric Pointer said...
Bruce,
Great thoughts.
I have just a bit to add.
Evictions are the unintended consequences of politics, greed, and moral depravity at the top and as the say "xxxx" roles down hill and so with great interest we all have been glued to the TV, internet and the like listening for any sign of recovery, actually stability, while less fortunate ones are simply struggling to keep the lights on and maintain any sense of normalcy.
I think that we should applaud the Good Sheriff’s efforts to stem the tide of evictions while finding ways that we "fortunate" ones can, in the midst of this crisis, give back.
Here are a few actions we can all take:
Find a shelter, Sponsor a child,Visit a struggling neighbor or family member,etc...
Eric Pointer, Realtor
Real Estate One/Team366
Ann Arbor MIchigan Real Estate
http://blog.team366.com
http://www.team366.com
Reply
11-24-2008 @ 10:59AM
Pamela said...
I totally agree with you Eric. I feel evicting the tenants is so wrong seeing that they paid their rent and the landlord just decided to not pay his mortgage. My neighbors fell in this catergoy just a few months ago. Had been paying their rent, only to realize that the property was about to be put on auction. I used to be a loan officer and now I tell people that are considering moving, or renting property, to first look on the sherriffs website in their county and look up the landlord's name to see if everything is okay with the home they are planning to rent. One of my friends gave a landlord almost $2,000.00 only to find out that the landlord didn't even own the property anymore, had already been auction off in the foreslosure sale. She had 6 children and her former place had already been rented out, so she and her family had to sleep in their car until they found housing. I truly this is going to get worse if the government doesn't start helping the american people instead of giving billions to people that are already rich.
Reply
11-25-2008 @ 11:16AM
steve sheehy said...
The Sheriff should run for political office! A strong man and nobody's puppet.
Reply
11-26-2008 @ 12:53AM
swcash said...
We need to quit looking to the government for a cure_all for every problem. The more the government gets into your life, the more bit is like a communist society. Think about what you are wanting the government to have control over the next time you say "there otta be a law against (fill in the space). Or think about the communist when you are about to say: "the government should (fill in the blank).
Think about the 8% of your pay that the government takes and spends instead of investing for your old age. That same amount invested would have you wealthy by the age of 60. We will be lucky to get anything.
Squido
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12-15-2008 @ 8:31AM
greg said...
there is only so much i can feel sorry for people.... if she cant afford a place to stay, why did she have that sixth kid?????evictions are bad eric until you are the landlord whom cant get a deadbeat renter out, while making your payments, knowing the renter is destroying the house. which is FAR more common than the hardknock stories here. i have known people who go around living free off of the eviction system, screwing every landlord, utilities company, on the way, but your gonna take their side????there are two sides to evictions......a vast majority of them are still people who would rather buy pot or alcohal, crack, meth, chrome bike accs. than pay rent, or have to feed 15 children from 8 baby daddys. on rare occassion eviction is bad. most of the time it is a neccassary part of the wonderful crackhead/landlord relationship.
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