Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on August 3, 2009

Things are really heating up for California Democrat Rep. Laura Richardson. Her Sacramento, CA home is the focus of a House ethics probe. Oh, and she thinks Castro is simply dreamy…

LA Times: U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson bought the house in the tree-lined upper-middle-class Curtis Park neighborhood for $535,000 in early 2007 after she was elected to the Assembly. She already owned two houses, one in her Long Beach district and the other in San Pedro. She has defaulted six times on both homes.

From Los Angeles Times: Rep. Richardson’s Sacramento home is focus of House ethics probe:

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.

The office also has interviewed at least two of the Long Beach Democrat’s Sacramento neighbors, asking about their efforts — and their expenses — to tidy up the front- and backyards of Richardson’s two-story house. The city declared the house a public nuisance on one occasion and “blighted” on another.

[...]

When Richardson was elected to Congress, the house deteriorated further: The paint peeled, much of the grass and many plants died from lack of water, and weeds grew 3 to 4 feet high in back. Rats began breeding in the backyard and spread to the house next door.

Neighbors finally complained in e-mails and letters to Richardson, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic officials, but to no avail.

Richardson is a real piece of work. Here is an excerpt from a previous Frugal Café post about Richardson’s embarrassing fan-worship of socialist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro when she and the Congressional Black Caucus Democrats visited Cuba in May 2009:

…Black Caucus Democrats, like Rep. Laura Richardson (D-California), with her deadbeat, defaulting housing background (per Malkin: Richardson has “defaulted six times on her home loans and has left a trail of unpaid bills in her wake”), visited Cuba with other Democrats last month. Richardson moronically, blissfully sang Castro’s praises and said in a press conference that Cuba is beautiful and the people there are happy and DO have shoes and DO have ice cream. So there.

Holy cow. I sure DO hope they have shoes, Laura. Equating someone’s happiness with having a pair of friggin’ shoes? Are you serious? And having ice cream? How insulting, how elitist is that? People in California ELECTED you to office?

…What they don’t have in Cuba, Laura, you ignorant nitwit, what is even MORE important than shoes and ice cream, is freedom.

Shoes in Cuba | Photo credit: Dissecting Leftism, jonjayray.blogspot.com

(Link to photo and blog post above: JonJayRay blog, Dissecting Leftism, July 2006 archives).

Socialist countries DON’T have much freedom, or were you too busy drooling over an aging dictator like he was a rock star to pay much attention to that? Castro has bled the country dry. It used to be prosperous, it used to have freedoms. Not anymore. Castro nationalized everything, took zillions of dollars from the people, and most have been destitute and without hope for years (those who aren’t part of the government, anyway). The government is ruthless and authoritarian. Why do you think so many Cubans try to escape by coming to America, Laura? Because they want more ice cream?

Additional reading on Richardson, Castro, and Cuba:
Michelle Malkin: U.N. declares Castro a “World Hero of Solidarity” and Race-baiter Democrat Rep. Diane Watson praises Cuban health system, Castro & Guevara who “kicked out the wealthy” and Castro Watch: Walking Commie corpse appears on TV and Deadbeat Dem’s crummy house back in the news and Culture of Corruption Watch: Hill edition and CBC: Congressional boot-lickers for Castro
Reason.TV: Killer Chic, Hollywood’s Sick Love Affair with Che Guevara
Arlenearmy’s Blog: Who are the Members of the Congressional Black Caucus?
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: U.S. Rep. DEMOCRAT Laura Richardson – 6 time loan defaulter now subject to ethics investigations and So that’s why dictators love the US media!
Just Americans Making Ethical Statements Weblog: Foreclosure Reversal: Preferential treatment
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Cuba, the Musical: CBC’s Fawning over Castro Is Naive, Nauseating and Embarrassment – Dems Have Lovely Chat with Fidel Castro… Blame America for Cuba’s Poverty Because of Embargo and The Sham of Socialism: Save America While There’s Still Time and Video Parody: Hey There, Obama (Drink the Kool Aid)

Val Prieto, Babalú Blog, an island on the net without a bearded dictator: Michelle Malkin on the CBC
The American Spectator: Quebec Has Helicopters for Pepe Le Pew But Not Emergency Patients and Obama’s False Choice
Burt Prelutsky, Big Hollywood: Examining Leftist Thinking
American Thinker: Human Rights Watch on Cuba
Tim Slagle, Big Hollywood: Democrats — Why so Unhappy?
Free Republic: Socialism Coming Back To Haunt U.S.
John Nolte, Big Hollywood: Spike Lee Slams America, Lays Off Hugo Chavez
The Christian Science Monitor: White House laughs at GOP idea to call Democrats “Socialists”
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Wealthy Democrat Supporters Dumbfounded… Realize Obama Will Take Their Money
Cuban-American Pundits: National Review on The Man Who Invented Fidel

Categories: Economy, Government, International Relations, Social and Political Climate
Tags: Black Caucus, Castro, CBC, Cuba, Democrat, ethics probe, foreclosure probe, Laura Richardson, political, politics, Rep. Laura Richardson, Sacramento