Sen. Harper counters the Arizona Republic's drum beat to license an entry-level job

Letter submitted to the Arizona Republic to counter the push to license "loan Originators"

I am writing to point out that Catherine Reagor's May 25th article (State Senate stalls bill to license loan officers) was completely without statistical facts. While I provided no statistics on the Senate floor when I said, "The Number 1 problem is people lying about their income on their mortgage application," Catherine provided no evidence to counter when she said, "That isn't true, according to the FBI... The bureau found that a growing number of loan officers are perpetrating fraud by lying on loan applications." A "growing number" is not a statistic and proves nothing. What is apparent is consistent fraud in reporting by the newspaper. Should we license reporters and require annual training? I say, "Be careful when you cheer on the taking of another's individual liberty, because it may be yours that someone comes for next."

State Senator Jack Harper