Cornett ad calls ‘Bull Stitt’ on rival
Republican Mick Cornett’s gubernatorial campaign began airing an ad Tuesday accusing rival Kevin Stitt of spreading “Bull Stitt” about Cornett’s record on sanctuary cities.
The ad also cites a 2009 article that questioned the business practices of Stitt’s mortgage company, Gateway Mortgage Group.
The new ad, which is airing statewide and sponsored by Cornett’s campaign, is the latest in an escalating war between the Republican foes, who meet in an Aug. 28 runoff primary.
Negative ads began Friday when an outside group of Oklahoma donors, Oklahoma Values, launched a television spot attacking Stitt’s company.
Though the ad was not coordinated with Cornett’s campaign, the campaign effectively offered its seal of approval Friday by saying that allegations in the ad were true.
Stitt’s campaign responded with an ad that afternoon questioning Cornett’s support of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies.
Cornett’s new ad introduces a catchphrase into the race, “Bull Stitt,” which is voiced by the narrator and Cornett supporters.
Sanctuary cities
“Kevin Stitt says Mick Cornett is in favor of sanctuary cities?" the narrator states. “That’s a bunch of Bull Stitt. Mick was mayor of Oklahoma City and it’s never been a sanctuary city.”
The ad quotes Oklahoma City police Chief Bill Citty as saying that Oklahoma City is not a sanctuary city. The citation references comments Citty made in 2017 to the city council.
Citty said, “One of the reasons we don’t fall within that definition of a sanctuary city is because we do work with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), we do call Immigration. Because one of the definitions is that you really won’t cooperate at all with any investigation with ICE.
“We are not proactive,” Citty said. “We don't feel like we have the authority, we don't have the manpower, we don't have the training. And it builds distrust within the community.”
Stitt campaign spokeswoman Donelle Harder said Tuesday, “Not only did Mick Cornett refuse to support President Trump in 2016 and oppose the border wall to stop illegal immigration, he went to Washington, D.C., to stand arm-in-arm with Democrat mayors to push back on the Trump administration’s efforts to end the practice of sanctuary cities.”
Harder was referring to a meeting in early 2017 of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Cornett was then president of the group, which met with the head of Homeland Security.
Cornett, responding to a question after the meeting about sanctuary cities, was quoted in Politico saying, “We’re not interested in some label or term that seems to be generated by people outside the mainstream for some political or manipulative effect.”
Stitt's company
Cornett’s new ad cites a 2009 article in Business Insider and says Gateway Mortgage was named one of the 15 shadiest mortgage lenders in the entire country.
The article included the company in an article about the “15 shadiest mortgage lenders being backed by the government.” The article was about companies doing business with the Government National Mortgage Association, known as Ginnie Mae.
The article says Gateway Mortgage Group had a default rate of 11.9 percent. According to the article, that was twice the rate compared to other lenders in the geographic region for Federal Housing Association Loans.
Stitt said the default rate came at a time when Gateway had just begun originating FHA loans and that the loan volume was very low at the time.
The article also states that Gateway’s license was revoked in Illinois because of “fraud.”
Harder said the license was never revoked.
A consent order in the case states that the Illinois banking agency investigated a Gateway loan originator for an “alleged real estate, appraisal, and mortgage fraud scheme.” Gateway fired the employee and asked for a hearing, the order states.
Gateway agreed to a $10,000 fine and a probation period from June 2009 to January 2010. The order states that Gateway’s license was to be reinstated immediately.
Harder said Illinois had issued a letter of intent to revoke the license but gave Gateway time to appeal. The state agreed after the appeal not to revoke the license, she said.
In a letter sent to employees last week, Gateway CEO Stephen Curry said regulatory actions were widespread in the financial industry from 2008 to 2010. Since then, he wrote, "the company received licenses to do business in 24 states and approvals to enter many other businesses."
“As to the states cited in recent political ads, this year Gateway originated 1,064 mortgages in Arkansas, for a total of $176 million, and 99 mortgages with total balances of $22 million in Illinois,” Curry wrote.
The company operates in 41 states and the District of Columbia and could operate in all 50 states, Stitt said.