It seems HELOCs have become something of an issue in Minnesota politics. Opponents of Republican US Senate candidate Mark Kennedy blasted the candidate for having a HELOC loan. No indication that Kennedy got in too deep by overusing the loan - the simple fact he has a HELOC is evidence enough that the guy doesn’t know how to handle money:

We’re supposed to trust our finances to a guy who apparently can’t live within his means so he goes ahead and takes out what is widely considered a bad financial risk?

Shot in the Dark, a conservative blog focused on Minnesota politics fired back with a point of view more to our liking:

Perhaps it’s a bad financial risk among those that have the financial chops of a typical liberal - at least it’s “widely believed” that liberals can’t handle money. As for everyone else who wants to remodel their homes, consolidate their debt at a lower (and tax-deductable rate), or reduce the down-payment on their home purchases while avoiding having PMI charges rolled into their monthly mortgage payments, HELOCs make perfect sense.

Personal finances are fair game in politics. Voters have every right to know how wealthy candidates are, how much they pay in taxes, whether they pay taxes on-time, etc. These important issues are particularly relevant when the public office has direct responsibility for handling public funds. But making issue over the type of daily financing tools a candidate’s family chooses to use is clearly misplaced.

Candidate Kennedy is CPA, which leads me to believe he’s likely a savvy user of his HELOC. His opponents will need to come with better issues than this.

Technorati Tags: Minnesota politics, Republican US Senate, HELOC loan