Gingrich’s Florida chief has Miami home in foreclosure

Jose Mallea, chief of Gingrich’s Florida campaignPerhaps the foreclosure Newt Gingrich’s recently anointed Florida chief is enduring will soften the Republican presidential candidates stance on the foreclosure crisis.

Miami New Times reported that Jose Mallea, who rose to fame as campaign chief of Tea Party U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, is in foreclosure for the house he bought in Miami at the height of the real estate bubble. Malleo paid $290,000 for the home, at SW 27th Avenue and 13th Street, in February 2008. Now it’s valued at just $159,000 and he’s severely underwater.

The New Times pointed out the irony in the story, as Gingrich has called for eradicating bank regulations that were first enacted to protect distressed homeowners, including the Dodd-Frank Act. He has said that a less regulatory environment would encourage banks to work with homeowners and lend more freely. [Miami New Times]