Mortgage feud boiled over

[FarCenter]

By Jessica Fender and Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/18/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 03/18/2010 04:03:04 PM MDT

The sudden disappearance from duty of the woman charged with enforcing Colorado's real estate regulations marks the latest development in long-standing tensions between her office and a mortgage-broker-turned-state senator.

Employees of the Division of Real Estate learned Tuesday afternoon that executive director Erin Toll was on leave but received no other details.

Toll and her division have been warring with Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, for weeks in a series of increasingly heated confrontations that have left her claiming she feels threatened and him accusing her of abusing power.

Most recently, Toll told the media that Harvey and his company were under investigation by her division, though the division's parent agency, the Department of Regulatory Agencies, later clarified that only the company was under their microscope.

The situation has escalated to the point where executive branch officials from Gov. Bill Ritter down have clammed up and Harvey's employer has hired a high-powered law firm.

Toll has been a lightning rod to some in the real estate industry since she was appointed to lead the Division of Real Estate in September 2006. She has launched a series of high-profile investigations into numerous mortgage brokers and appraisers, including participants in an alleged scam to take advantage of the state's conservation easement program.

In September, Toll and an investigator from her office were sued for violating the privacy rights of two mortgage brokerages after seeking their bank records as part of an investigation. A judge ruled in October that the Division of Real Estate had a right to subpoena the bank records.

Division employees have not been told why Toll is on leave, whether it was voluntary or how long she would be out. They were informed that Marcia Waters, the division's director of investigations and compliance, has been named acting executive director.

Meanwhile, DORA spokesman Chris Lines — speaking for executive director Barbara Kelley and Division of Real Estate spokesman Zach Urban — said he could not discuss the matter because it is a personnel issue.

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Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_14696516#ixzz0iakLNGKZ

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Real estate and mortgage broker crooks.