Sheriff Thomas J. Dart Deserves a Medal: Obama Has Chance to Make Difference

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County Illinois on Wednesday said "The buck stops here!" While the US Government seems so intent to bail out squandering financial institutions such as A.I.G., Dart has stepped in to help countless victims of the foreclosure crisis in his county.

In most cases, those victims are unsuspecting renters who are paying their rent on time but are being thrown out because the landlord has fallen behind on mortgage payments.

Mortgage companies are supposed to identify a building's occupants before asking for an eviction, but sheriff's deputies routinely find that the mortgage companies have not done so, he said.

"These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care who's in the building," Dart said. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way.

"On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today."

Dart said he wants the judiciary or the state Legislature to establish protections for those most harmed by the mortgage crisis.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who just happens to be running for President of the United States, could be just the person to help with such protections.

While few if any Americans have a desire to bail out Wall Street, many politicians (including both Obama and Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain) have indicated that the Government should focus on bailing out individuals whose homes are about to foreclose. That is a slippery slope, however, as the majority of Americans make their mortgage payment on time and there is a common notion that those who have entered into foreclosure "brought these problems on themselves and taxpayers shouldn't have to vouch for them either".

But Sheriff Dart raises an interesting point. Renters are true victims and there should be an exception. Hopefully, his actions will be recognized and imitated nationwide. Oh how refreshing to see a person in power doing the right thing. Kudos to Sheriff Dart!

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Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editorial