Heck and Romney part ways on foreclosures

It's not unusual that Nevada Republicans would have a different position on the foreclosure issue than former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And it's not unusual that Democrats would try to link Nevada Republicans to Romney's tough-love solution.

Romney, speaking to the Review-Journal editorial board in October, famously said this: "Don't try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom. Allow investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around and come back up."

"The Obama administration has slow-walked the foreclosure process ... that has long existed and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang," he added.

Reaction was swift: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid condemned Romney. Republican Sen. Dean Heller and GOP Gov. Brian Sandoval distanced themselves from Romney's remarks.

Rep. Joe Heck -- one of three high-profile Nevada lawmakers who have endorsed Romney -- was a bit more nuanced.

"Rep. Joe Heck ... thinks the housing market 'does need to reach bottom,' a spokesman said, but supports 'a soft landing rather than a hard crash' by having the government continue to offer refinancing help," reads an R-J story by Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault.

And that's precisely what Heck's spokesman, Greg Lemmon, told me on Thursday, after Democrats attacked Heck in email for allegedly shifting his position on the issue during a town hall meeting. A video clip of that meeting unearthed by the Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston shows Heck saying this:

"Mitt Romney and I don't agree on every issue and certainly housing is one of them. When you look at what is going on here in Southern Nevada, you can't say you've got to let the housing market hit bottom. We have been bouncing along the bottom for years. And the fact is we have to do everything possible to: 1) keep people in their homes and 2) get people who are out of their homes back into their homes."

So, Heck has shifted on the "hit bottom" verbiage, which gave his Democratic opponent John Oceguera an opening.

"Congressman Heck was the only Nevada Republican willing to defend Mitt Romney's outrageous call for our state's foreclosure crisis to 'hit the bottom.' Now, after months of facing the justifiable backlash from families struggling to just keep a roof over their heads, Heck is hoping Nevadans simply forget he endorsed Romney's cold, out-of-touch foreclosure scheme," Oceguera said in a statement. "Unfortunately for the congressman, Nevadans understand they have a clear choice in this election between my commitment to keeping Nevadans in their homes and Heck's anti-middle-class agenda that prioritizes the interests of Wall Street banks while it throws Nevada families under the bus."

But while Heck did agree (back in October, at least) with the "hit bottom" comment, he never agreed that there's nothing that can be done at all.

Lemmon said Heck supports programs such as refinancing underwater mortgages at lower rates, and he's working on a "second-chance" mortgage bill. Heck also voted -- against his party -- to keep a Federal Housing Administration refinance program and the Home Affordable Modification Program.

"Federal policies got us into this mess to a certain extent, and responsible federal policies can get us out," Lemmon said. "There's things we can do, and if we can, we should."

That's a different position from Romney and, say, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who say refinancing, mortgage negotiation and other programs usually favored by Democrats only prolong the inevitable.

With Nevada at the center of the foreclosure crisis, it's not surprising that Silver State Republicans part ways with Romney. Even the ones who've endorsed him for president.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.