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NY gov candidate blames Cuomo for mortgage crisis
Republican candidate for New York governor Carl Paladino on Tuesday blamed Democrat Andrew Cuomo and his policies as President Clinton's housing secretary for the sub-prime mortgage crisis that helped trigger the recession.

The millionaire Buffalo developer said Cuomo initiated policies that helped poor people qualify for adjustable rate mortgages they didn't understand and couldn't afford once rates rose.

Paladino said the defaulted mortgages cost poor families their homes, while other taxpayers lost retirement funds in the ensuing Wall Street meltdown.

Cuomo, who was the federal housing secretary in the late 1990s, didn't immediately comment. The one-term attorney general is considering a run for governor.

Paladino said that as secretary for Housing and Urban Development, Cuomo "couldn't wait to get in front of the cameras at press conferences" to say how he was encouraging the federally chartered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "to lower their standards so every American can enjoy having a house."

"He did a terrible injustice to those poor Americans telling them they could have a house they couldn't afford," Paladino told reporters a day after he formally announced his campaign for governor. "He did a more egregious injustice to the taxpayers and the people who had homes as he created the sub-prime meltdown, which resulted in lower valuations."

"He was initiator of a policy that was carried by others," Paladino said, naming Clinton and Republican President George W. Bush. "It turned into a monster ... all in the name of Andrew's political career."...