Opponents Gear For Fannie, FreddieFight

WASHINGTON - (12/06/04) -- Signaling a ratcheting up of theFannie Mae and Freddie Mac controversy, a group of high-poweredcompetitors to the secondary mortgage market giants has reloadedfor their fight in next year's Congress to reign in the twocompanies. FM Policy Focus, formerly known as FM watch, has hiredoutgoing Republican National Committee Chairman Edward Gillespie,who will return to his Washington lobbying firm, Quinn, Gillespie& Associates next month. Gillespie will join Hogan &Hartson lobbyist Michael House, a former lobbyist for CUNA MutualGroup, and former Congressman J.C. Watts, R-Okla., who served aschairman of the House Republican Conference, in the anti-Fannie andFreddie lobby. The group is backed by Wells Fargo, GenworthFinancial (formerly GE Financial) and the Consumer BankersAssociation, among others.