State's Top Mortgage Regulator To Meet With Cabinet

Florida's top mortgage regulator will likely get at least a temporary reprieve today from calls for his ouster over revelations that his office licensed thousands of mortgage brokers with criminal backgrounds.

But the week-old scandal is re-igniting a decades-old debate in Florida about civil rights for ex-felons, with Attorney General Bill McCollum calling for the state Cabinet to tighten up professional licensing rules.

Today's meeting of the state Cabinet will be the first opportunity for Don Saxon, head of the Office of Financial Regulation, to address the state Cabinet about the scathing Miami Herald investigation that revealed that his office approved mortgage brokerage licenses for at least 10,000 ex-felons between 2000 and 2007. According to the Herald, such brokers stole at least $85 million from consumers and banks.

State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink last week called for Saxon's resignation. On Monday, Sink said she was not ready to make such a motion at today's meeting - though she continued to talk tough about Saxon, saying she had not changed her mind about replacing him.

Saxon released a 40-page detailed response to the extensive coverage in the Herald. Sink said that his explanations and defenses haven't changed her mind.

"Don ... has an excellent reputation when it comes to regulating, being a banking and credit union regulator. But we're in a whole new world now," she said. "I just believe it's time for new leadership there."

McCollum continued Monday to refrain from attacking Saxon. Sterling Ivey, spokesman for Gov. Charlie Crist, said only that Crist "looks forward to hearing from Mr. Saxon directly" today.

Last week, Sink called for an order to "stop issuing or renewing mortgage broker licenses to felons, pending further instruction."

McCollum went one step further late Monday, proposing a seven-year ban on mortgage brokering and related licenses for all ex-felons.

Until the state Cabinet voted in 2007 to make the process nearly automatic, felons had to wait five years before applying for restoration of their civil rights, including professional licensing. McCollum was the lone Cabinet vote against expediting rights restoration, a campaign promise from Crist.

McCollum also left open the prospect of barring recent ex-felons from licensure in other fields. Arguing that recidivism data shows that nearly 50 percent of ex-felons will commit crimes within five years, he wrote in his proposal of removing "a significant threat to our citizens" by limiting ex-felons' access to jobs "requiring trust, honesty and integrity as essential to the occupation."

Sink and Crist had no immediate comment on McCollum's letter.