Laura Richardson

SACRAMENTO - As if the embarrassment Congresswoman Laura Richardson has suffered over her personal financial problems wasn't enough, Sacramento authorities declared her home a ‘public nuisance" this week.

The city has threatened to fine the Long Beach Democrat as much as $5,000 a month if she doesn't fix it up.

Neighbors in the upper-middle-class neighborhood complain that the sprinklers are never turned on and the grass and plants are dead or dying. The gate is broken, and windows are covered with brown paper, according to this Los Angeles Times report.

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U.S. Rep. Laura RichardsonU.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach), whose personal financial problems have been in the news lately, drives the most expensive car in the House of Representatives, according to the Daily Breeze.

Richardson's 2007 Lincoln Town Car - a common choice among representatives - is distinct in its $1,300 a month fee, making it the priciest set of wheels in the House of Representatives.

The high cost may be due to Richardson's insistence that her Lincoln being "specially customized," a staff member told the Daily Breeze.

U.S. Rep. Laura RichardsonHouse Majority Leader Steny Hoyer held a fundraiser Wednesday evening for U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson, the Long Beach-area Democrat who has come under fire for defaulting on a mortgage on her Sacramento home and for failing to pay car bills.

The fundraiser was aimed at helping Richardson pay off a $330,000 campaign debt. Spokespeople for Hoyer and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not specify how much was raised at the event. A spokesperson for Richardson did not respond to an email requesting comment.

Critics of Richardson have accused the congresswoman of defaulting on her home while loaning her re-election campaign nearly $80,000. Richardson won the June Democratic primary and faces token opposition in November’s general election.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, has called for a congressional investigation into the financial dealings of U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson, The Hill is reporting.

Richardson, who is from Long Beach, is under scrutiny for the foreclosure of her Sacramento home and her late payments for car bills. There are also questions about whether Richardson did not document a mortgage on financial disclosure statements and about whether Richardson loaned her congressional campaign money while she had mortgage payments.

“By failing to pay her debts, filing incorrect financial disclosure forms and funneling money that should have gone to pay her mortgage and property taxes to her congressional campaign, Rep. Richardson has signaled that legal and financial obligations can be ignored in the pursuit of political power,” the organization said in a statement. “Richardson not only has shown exceedingly poor judgment, she has violated House ethics rules. She is unfit to be an elected official, at any level.”

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson, the embattled congresswoman who lost her Sacramento home to foreclosure, could be getting the house back, the Los Angeles Times is reporting today.

Since defaulting on her payments, the house has been purchased by a new buyer, an area investor named James York. But York was recently notified that the home is being returned to Richardson.

"It's clear what's happening is Ms. Richardson is abusing her political power and using it for her own political needs. You don't have to be smart to understand what's happening," York tells the paper.

It was reported earlier this week that Richardson made several late payments for car repairs. 

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson, the Long Beach congresswoman who last month was found to have foreclosed on her Sacramento home, left car bills unpaid for several years, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports today.

The paper details two instances in 2005 when Richardson, then serving on the Long Beach City Council, failed to pay for bills stemming from repairs she had done on her car. The paper also reports that at around the same time, Richardson began using a city-owned car for personal use.

Richardson filled the Long Beach-area U.S. House seat of Juanita Millender-McDonald after Millender-McDonald passed away in September.