Coakley & O'Brien respond to WSJ editorial

Last week the Wall Street Journal published an editorial (portion only available on WSJ website) deeply critical of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's lawsuit against some major national lenders for alleged improprieties arising out the housing crisis and its aftermath.  My blog post about that editorial can be found here. 

Recently the Journal published letters to the editor in response from Attorney General Coakley and from Essex South Register of Deeds John O'Brien.  Coakley wrote, in part, 

. . . If the banks wanted to resolve this crisis in a timely manner, they had 14 months to do so. Instead, they dragged out negotiations and attempted to obtain broad liability releases for seemingly every imaginable illegal conduct. Last month we declared "enough was enough" and filed a lawsuit seeking the one thing the banks have resisted at every stage—real accountability for their actions and real relief for homeowners. . . .

While O'Brien added

. . . The real pain for homeowners is the havoc that these lenders have wreaked on the chains of title and property rights . . . I have been fighting for the "little guy" and I am very happy that the Massachusetts's AG has chosen to do the same.

Both letters are available in full on the Journal's webpage.  Please check them out.