Mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos wants to manage the city’s $112 billion budget, but she hasn’t managed to get her own financial home in order.
Two returns to Queens Supreme Court since 2019 show that state senator Ramos, the borough’s state senator, defaulted on the pair of loans. One is $35,757.21 and the other is $42,550.25.
Six years later, she apparently owes $78,307.46 in loans.
Melfi London, the candidate’s mother, is listed as a joint plaintiff of default judgments filed the year after Ramos became a state senator.
In both cases, court documents filed by Forster & Garbus on behalf of student loan lenders were “justified, but a portion of the amount has not been paid.”
Even some of Ramos’ fellow Democrats said her financial debt was a matter of her campaign.
“It hurts her candidacy,” said Frank Cedio, a former Brooklyn Democratic leader who supports Andrew Cuomo for the mayor.
“It’s certainly a sign of the city’s ability to manage costs and expenses,” he said of her outstanding default student loans.
“She can’t manage her debts. Is she going to take control of the city?”
Ramos’ campaign raised $232 and $292 in private funding, spending $231,253. She is not yet qualified for the public matching fund for the June 24th Democratic primary.
The mayor’s Democratic primary vote shows that she has single-digit support.
Ramos, 39, attending Hofstra University and having two school-age sons, said her loan debt represents the challenges faced by modest New Yorkers, and the struggle to provide a university education and support their families.
“Like millions of my generation, I have faced an impossible choice between financial survival and student loan payments,” Ramos told the Post.
“I prioritized building a safe and stable life for my family. This experience only deepens my commitment to fighting for a fairer economy that is not punished for people seeking education.”
Ramos, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2019, was chairman of the Labor Committee and previously served as city hall aide to former mayor Bill de Blasio. She is the first generation daughter of Hispanic immigrants.
At a recent editorial board meeting, Ramos referenced student loan obligations.
“I’m part of a generation that’s plagued by student debt, and that’s what I’m doing,” Ramos said.
The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it will resume its collection of student loan debt next month, including gracing wages for default borrowers.
The collection, which has been suspended since March 2020, will resume on May 5th and is expected to affect around 5.3 million borrowers now with federal student loan defaults.
“U.S. taxpayers are not forced to act as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
The Education Secretary criticized former President Joe Biden’s efforts to cancel billions of dollars on student loan debt. Some of Biden’s efforts were blocked by federal courts.
