Republican Congressional candidate David Trott has a little dilemma.
Trott, an Oakland County resident running in the 11th Congressional District against incumbent Kerry Bentivolio, likes to brag about being a big job creator. But he doesn't really like to brag about the nature of his business which benefits from the misery of others.
He's the foreclosure king.
John Wisely and L.L. Brasier of the Detroit Free Press report that Trott is an attorney and makes millions of dollars foreclosing on homes on behalf of banks and other lenders — as many as 80,000 in Michigan in a single year. He says he's performing an important role.
The Freep writes:
His Farmington Hills law firm, Trott & Trott, is Michigan’s largest foreclosure law firm and one of the biggest in the country. Financial disclosure statements he filed in December as part of his congressional campaign show the financial holdings of Trott and his wife, Kathleen, are worth at least $60.2 million and possibly as much as $204.9 million.
A campaign commercial talks about joining his mom and dad’s business in 1985 and growing the business from six to 1,800 people But it fails to mention the nature of the business, the Freep reports. In fact, if you watch the commercial, you would have no clue as what it is he actually does.
The Freep reports that Elliot Spoon, who teaches real estate law at Michigan State University, called Trott an innovator who invested in technology and brought efficiencies to an industry in chaos.
But critics aren't as complimentary.
“The only way he makes money is to take people’s homes,” attorney Valerie Moran, who helped a retired nurse keep her Walled Lake home after a two-year legal battle, told the Freep. -- Allan Lengel
