An American hero?

I was home for lunch and caught the biggest news of the day.

Here’s the lead-up to the story in a nutshell.

• Chicago banks made loans to owners of apartments buildings
• owners rented the apartments
• the renters did not get behind on payments
• but the owners did get behind
• banks foreclosed (and maybe they weren’t interested in following the letter of the law but)
• the banks ordered the sheriff to evict the renters

And what I saw on the news at noon was an angry young man saying,

” I will no longer be party to something that is so unjust.”

Who was the angry young man? It was the Sheriff. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart found his ethics in conflict with the law. And he has ordered his deputies to stop evicting the tenants. The AP reported the story earlier today. Check the details; the details are ugly as in go to work in the morning, come home to what’s left of your belongings on the curb. The Illinois Mortgage Bankers Association was not pleased with the Sheriff. In a twit, they announced they just wouldn’t give loans in Cook County. You can read about this in the Chicago Tribune. It’s breaking news in Chicago. Will there be copycats? Could it happen in Des Moines?

You are going to have to judge this one for yourself. Was the Sheriff right? If you think there is an easy answer, guess again. It is a wonderful conflict of law, ethics, and morality. Take your stand. There is no in between.

photo by flickr by DrCee