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Thursday, November 8, 2007

Illegal Immigrants, Cheaper Prescription Drugs, & Ryun's Townhouse Deal

A quick rundown of some of the top stories relating to the 2nd Congressional District:

The Lawrence Journal-World carries a heartbreaking story about a teenager killed in a car accident by an illegal immigrant. Congresswoman Nancy Boyda spoke about the accident at a press release for the introduction of a new bipartisan bill to enhance immigration enforcement. According to The Hill, "The Secure America with Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act focuses on three areas: employment enforcement, interior enforcement and increased border security."

The bipartisan effort has cosponsors ranging from Congresswoman Boyda to Republican Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo.

Also, The Hill reports more on Boyda's efforts to increase Medicaid reimbursements to pharmacies (and the efforts of a bunch of other members, too).

And, finally, The Politico does a lovely piece on real estate in Washington, DC, mentioning how expensive it is to own in the District unless, well, you get a sweetheart deal from a Tom Delay front organization. I'll go ahead and quote the portion of the article dedicated to Mr. Ryun here:

One of the best — albeit tainted — deals appears to have been had by former Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.). Ryun has been the subject of allegations that he received a sweetheart real estate deal from a nonprofit group tied to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the GOP’s former “Hammer,” Tom Delay (R-Texas).

Ryun bought his D Street town house for $410,000 in 2000 from the U.S. Family Network, even though that group — allegedly a front for shady fundraising by a former DeLay aide — had bought the house two years earlier, in the midst of the property boom, for $19,000 more.

Either way, Ryun, who has denied any improprieties and said he has substantially improved the house, is sitting on a golden egg.

The three-bedroom, two-bath brick row house is currently valued at $920,870, according to D.C. property records.

Ryun’s house was at the high end, given its proximity to the Capitol.

The average going price for a house near the Capitol is $750,000 — up from about $330,000 in 2000, according to information from Coldwell Banker Real Estate. Real estate values in the rest of the District have risen even more.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmmmmm Caldwell Banker said average townhouse in area went for $330,000 in 2000 ... and in 2000 Ryun paid $410,000. Sounds shady to me that he paid more than the average for place that was previously an office that he had to spend additional money to turn back into a home.

Pretty fishy to me ... (rolling eyes)

Anonymous said...

Man, someone needs to investigate Ryun. Paying 80,000 over the average market value for his townhouse. . . .

Anonymous said...

Boyda Bloc-come on, get your friends at the Cap Journal to run another piece on Ryun, his townhouse and Foley.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you are probably right, I'm sure that the house Tom Delay ran his lobbying shop out of two blocks from the capitol was a complete pit. That's why the property value dropped $30K over two years when the rest of property in DC was going up at an annual rate of 10%.

This blog is not affiliated in any way with the Kansas Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, the Office of Congresswoman Nancy Boyda, or the campaign to re-elected Congresswoman Nancy Boyda. All commentary herein not directly attributed must be considered the opinion of the authors of this blog and not of any other individual, including Congresswoman Nancy Boyda.