Region devastated by last spring’s earthquake and tsunami has close ties to the First State

Delaware’s strong sister-state relationship with Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture was very evident today during a visit that Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock made there on behalf of Governor Jack Markell and the people of Delaware.

Secretary Bullock began the day by placing white flowers at one of the many disaster areas in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, as a sign of respect to the people of Miyagi who greatly suffered as a result of last March’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. He also met with the prefecture’s governor Yoshihiro Murai, presenting him with a letter from Governor Markell.

“Our community came together quickly to help our neighbors on the other side of the world,” said Markell.  “I’m thankful for the generosity and compassion that Delawareans have shown, and I’m thankful for the strong bonds we’ve formed with our friends in Miyagi. I remain grieved by their losses, but I’m hopeful and inspired by the great strides they’ve made.”

Nearly 15 years ago, the State of Delaware formed a sister-state relationship with Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture that has involved school and business exchanges, among other fruitful partnerships. Following last spring’s tragic events, the outpouring of support from Delawareans was significant. It was no doubt a result of the long relationship the two have shared.

In total, some 500 individuals and couples, schools, businesses, and organizations throughout the First State donated over $100,000 to Miyagi, with more than 90% going to Miyagi’s Children’s Fund to support children who lost one or both parents in the earthquake, tsunami, and their aftermath. Additional funds were allocated to immediate relief during the earlier stages of the response and infrastructure needs.

Outreach to the community through radio, print and social media was critical to the awareness-raising effort. The Delmarva Broadcasting Company’s family of radio stations played Public Service Announcements for several days and joined together with the News Journal to support a fundraising event at Dover Downs. Individual community members and other media organizations joined the effort through social media and online to update Delawareans on the conditions in Miyagi and rally support.

“Miyagi was hit incredibly hard, but they have also done an amazing job of bouncing back – handling the crisis well and moving forward in a well-thought out, organized way,” said Secretary Bullock. “Miyagi is already returning to normal, thanks to the determination of its people with whom we are honored to be connected through our sister-state relationship.”

In his weekly message, Governor Jack Markell talks about Delawareans who have been working hard to help our state compete in the global economy…and on reality television.

“So many people around the country have had a chance to see some inspiring Delawareans, who used their time in the spotlight to bring attention to some of the talent, creativity and drive that helps define our state,” said Markell.

The University of Delaware’s Deltones a cappella group recently finished in the Top 10 on The Sing Off, and other Delawareans have represented the state on a national stage: Master Chef winner Jennifer Behm, Cake Boss winner Dana Herbert, Dogfish Head’s Sam Calagione, thousands of volunteer Delawareans on Extreme Home Makeover and the creative volunteers behind the upcoming Punkin Chunkin.

Highlights of the 2010 Punkin Chunkin will air on the Science Channel this Saturday for “Chunk-O-Ween,” and the 2011 special will be simulcast on the Discovery and Science Channels on Thanksgiving.  Governor Markell recently changed his Twitter and Facebook profiles photos to a pumpkin head to highlight this unique event.

“But more importantly, when the lights are off and the camera crews have moved on – these Delawareans stay committed to giving back to the place they call home,” continued Markell.  “Because, while life may look glamorous in prime time (unless you’re on Survivor) the truth is, these have been tough times for our nation.”

The Governor thanked fellow Delawareans for the hard work they do every day in their jobs, their homes, their schools and their communities, including the hundreds of thousands of hours given to help our neighbors through efforts like https://volunteer.delaware.gov.

“The hard work most people put in, day in and day out – the commitment they make each morning to making their families and their communities stronger – may not make for exciting television but makes for a much brighter future for all of us, and helps keep our great state moving forward.”

About the Governor’s Weekly Message:
At noon every Friday, a new video message is posted to the Governor’s website and YouTube channel and is distributed to Delaware media outlets.   Transcripts of the messages are posted and the audio version of the Governor’s message is available on iTunes as a podcast for distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers.   The Governor’s weekly message is currently being carried on the air and posted on websites by various media outlets, and the direct link is:   http://youtu.be/TLVM20NvTBY

Constituents, media outlets and others are free to link to the Governor’s video message on YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/GovernorMarkell – or on his Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/governormarkell – or on the Delaware State website at http://governor.delaware.gov/information/podcast_video.shtml.  All are also invited to follow him on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/governormarkell – and submit ideas through http://ideas.delaware.gov.

Transcript of Governor Markell’s Weekly Message

Somebody told me years ago that if you’re watching yourself on a reality television show, something in your life may have gone terribly wrong. And, if it hasn’t, it very well may before the episode is over.

Recently, a great group of Delawareans have been proving that advice wrong.  They have taken a format that can bring out the worst in people – and used it to bring attention to some of our state’s best.

How about the University of Delaware’s own Deltones and their Top 10 finish on “The Sing Off ”   …they clearly have bright futures ahead of them.   We’ve also seen this season’s “Master Chef” winner Jennifer Behm and Cake Boss winner Dana Herbert – who are steadily building their own businesses.

And great downstaters like Dogfish Head Beer genius Sam Calagione on his season of “Brew Masters” – and thousands of Delawareans who donated their time or resources to a good cause during Extreme Home Makeover.

So many people around the country have had a chance to see some inspiring Delawareans, who used their time in the spotlight to bring attention to some of the talent, creativity and drive that helps define our state.

But more importantly, when the lights are off and the camera crews have moved on – these Delawareans stay committed to giving back to the place they call home.   Because, while life may look glamorous in prime time – (unless you’re on Survivor) – the truth is, these have been tough times for our nation.

Times we’ve had to pull together, to look past our differences and focus on what we can do, together, to get people working, to strengthen our schools, and our resolve – to donate our time and our talents to make stronger this great state of neighbors.

There’s the hundreds of thousands of hours people have given to help through efforts like https://volunteer.delaware.gov.   Parents volunteering time in schools.  Or kids committing themselves to mastering critical subjects like math, science and reading so they can compete – not to be the next American Idol — but to be the next great American entrepreneur or employer.

The hard work most people put in, day in and day out – the commitment they make each morning to making their families and their communities stronger – may not make for exciting television but makes for a much brighter future for all of us, and helps keep our great state – moving forward.

Attorney General files suit against MERS under the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act;
Inaccurate and unreliable records harmed homeowners

Wilmington, DE – Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden filed suit today against the shadow mortgage registry known as MERS that is at the center of the housing crisis. The complaint, filed in the Delaware Chancery Court, charges that MERSCORP and its subsidiary Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. have repeatedly violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

            “Since at least the 1600s, real property rights have been a cornerstone of our society,” said Attorney General Biden. “MERS has raised serious questions about who owns what in America. A man or woman’s home is not just his or her largest investment, it’s their castle. Rules matter. A homeowner has the obligation to pay the mortgage on time, and lenders must follow the rules if they are seeking to take away someone’s house through foreclosure. The honor system won’t work.”

MERS engaged and continues to engage in deceptive trade practices that sow confusion among homeowners, investors, and other stakeholders in the mortgage finance system, seriously damaging the integrity of the land records that are central to Delaware’s real property system, and leading to improper foreclosure practices.  These deceptive trade practices fall into three broad categories:
• MERS, through its private mortgage registry, knowingly obscures important information from borrowers and the information that MERS does provide to borrowers is frequently inaccurate.  The opacity of MERS’ mortgage registration database makes it difficult for consumers to know of or challenge inaccuracies in the MERS System.  This harms borrowers when MERS forecloses on borrowers in its own name, thus impairing a borrower’s ability to raise defenses.  This also hampers the ability of borrowers to seek out the owner of their loan to pursue loan modifications or other loss mitigation relief. 
• MERS often acts as an agent without authority from its proper principal.  Because the MERS System was both unreliable and frequently inaccurate, MERS often does not know the identity of its proper principal.  Where the name of the owner of the mortgage loan recorded in the MERS System does not reflect the true owner, any action MERS takes on behalf of the purported owner is without authority. 
• MERS is effectively a “front” organization that has created a systemically important mortgage registry but fails to properly oversee that registry or enforce its own rules on its members that participate in the registry.  Rather than maintaining an adequate staff to provide MERS’ services, MERS operates through a network of over 20,000 deputized non-employee corporate officers who cause MERS to act without any meaningful oversight from anyone who works at MERS.  This has resulted in MERS recording so-called “robosigned” documents with country recorders of deeds and failing to follow its own rules regarding proper institution of foreclosure proceedings.
MERS, which is incorporated in Delaware and based in Northern Virginia, was formed in 1995 to facilitate the growing mortgage finance market. Large banks, such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, the quasi-governmental institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and other participants in the mortgage-lending industry created MERS to bypass the county Recorders of Deeds offices throughout America. Unfortunately, there was little to no outside oversight of MERS’ murky registry or transparency for homeowners. MERS did not meaningfully audit its records and failed to even enforce its own rules governing members’ conduct.
The complaint cites an example of a recent foreclosure in New Castle County in which MERS foreclosed on a loan in which it had no interest and without naming the real party in interest.  In fact, the entity upon whose behalf MERS sought to foreclose had actually been dissolved months prior.  MERS’ own records indicated numerous transfers in and out of MERS that were not reflected in the county records, as required by MERS’ own rules.  The confusing path and inaccurate records associated with this mortgage are not an isolated instance of bad record keeping by MERS.  Rather, this type of confusion is endemic to the entire MERS System.
Specifically, the suit alleges that MERS violated Delaware’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by:
• Hiding the true mortgage owner and removing that information from the public land records.
• Creating a systemically important, yet inherently unreliable, mortgage database that created confusion and inappropriate assignments and foreclosures of mortgages.
• Operating MERS through its members’ employees, who MERS confusingly appoints as its corporate officers so that such employees may act on MERS’ behalf.
• Failing to ensure the proper transfer of mortgage loan documentation to the securitization trusts, which may have resulted in the failure of securitizations to own the loans upon which they claimed to foreclose.
• Assigning and foreclosing upon mortgages for which MERS did not possess authority to act because the mortgage loan was never properly transferred.
• Initiating foreclosures in the name of MERS without authority to do so or without appropriate controls to ensure the actions were being carried out by the actual owner of the mortgage.
• Allowing the entry and management of data by those MERS members who are identified as owners or servicers in the MERS System, instead of controlling entry and management itself.
• Initiating foreclosure actions in which the real party in interest was hidden, thus preventing homeowners from ascertaining who owned their mortgage in order to challenge whether or not they had a right to foreclose and limiting their legal defenses.
• Purporting to act as an agent without knowing the identity of its principal and therefore if it acted within the scope of its agency or not.
• Encouraging reliance on the MERS System when MERS knew the system was unreliable and by allowing its members to cause MERS to act beyond the scope of its authority in reliance on such unreliable data.
• Taking instructions from entities who, despite being listed as note holders in the MERS system, were not the proper principals to cause MERS to act under MERS’ rules.
• Assigning mortgages without authority to do so where MERS purports to act for the wrong entity or where the requisite signature of a MERS signing officer is not actually executed by that officer.
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Delaware, 16 other states ask FCC for tougher federal rules fighting ‘cramming’

WILMINGTON – Delaware Attorney General and his colleagues in 16 other states called on federal regulators this week to do more to protect consumers against unauthorized charges added to their telephone bills. 

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed rules targeting a fraudulent scheme known as cramming – parties other than the telephone company deceiving customers and placing charges on phone bills without their consent. Cramming charges, which a recent U.S. Senate report estimates cost consumers more than $2 billion annually, cover services such as e-mail and voicemail.
The proposed FCC rules are designed to give customers greater ability to guard against cramming.  In a filing with the Commission this week, the Attorneys General asked the FCC to strengthen the proposed rules, especially those covering wireless phone users.

“Consumers should not have to be constantly defending themselves against schemes to sneak phony and fraudulent charges onto their phone bills,” Biden said. “We are asking the federal government to step up to protect consumers by cracking down on cramming.”

Specifically, the Attorneys General are asking the FCC to:
• Ban all third-party charges on landline bills or at least require that landline phone companies block all third-party charges unless the customer specifically agrees to allow such charges on his or her phone bill.
• Require wireless service providers to get approval from customers for every third-party charge that would be added to their bills, either via a phone call or text message; and
• Allow wireless customers to block all third-party charges from the their bills.

“It is time that the Commission take decisive and effective action to put an end to unauthorized third-party charges on customer telephone bills,” the Attorneys General wrote in their FCC filing.
In addition to Delaware, the states participating in the filing with the FCC include Washington, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire, Alaska, Georgia, New Mexico and Alabama.
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