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The Virginia Democratic Party (VDP) hammered Rep. Thelma Drake (R-Va.), a licensed real estate agent, for turning a profit on three properties she bought in foreclosure before being elected to Congress. Drake’s campaign called the attacks “outrageous” and “desperate” on the part of former diplomat Glenn Nye, Drake’s Democratic opponent. Nye trails in the polls, but has been gaining in recent weeks as the two vie for Virginia’s 2nd district seat in one of the Commonwealth’s tightest races. “Desperate and losing, Glenn Nye is reaching ever deeper into the political mud,” said Corry Bliss, Drake’s campaign manager. “He has no positive agenda and is now resorting to outrageous falsehoods and smear tactics.” The VDP press release called attention to three properties in Norfolk, Va., off of which Drake was able to make $437,000 by buying them at low prices due to foreclosures. Drake has sold one of the properties and has continued to rent the other two. “This is a serious conflict of interest,” said Jared Leopold, communications director for the VDP. “While Virginians struggle to hold onto their homes, Thelma Drake has turned their struggles into her personal profit. Thelma Drake has serious questions to answer for Virginians about who she truly represents.” The VDP tried to link Drake’s purchases as a real estate agent to her voting career since coming to Washington in 2005. It pointed to several Democratic-sponsored bills that offered financial relief and greater protections to mortgage owners, which Drake, like many other Republicans, voted against. Drake’s campaign said the property purchases made in 2000, 2001 and 2003 only emphasized “the fact that Glenn Nye has never owned a home in Virginia's 2nd district and claims to now live with his sister and her husband at their home in Norfolk.” “The … smear is about houses purchased long before Thelma Drake was elected to Congress,” Bliss said. “Knowing that there is nothing wrong with her purchases of houses eight years ago, the Nye/DPV smear is to somehow link these past purchases to our ... economic problems.” Virginia had more than 5,700 homes in foreclosure as of July, which placed it as the state with the 10th-highest foreclosure rate in the country, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure data company. A recent Democrat-sponsored poll of 400 voters in the district put Nye five points behind Drake, with 39 percent of respondents claiming to be Democrat, 13 percent independent and 47 percent Republican. A separate poll released by the Research 2000 polling company almost three weeks ago put Drake ahead of Nye by 14 points. |
