New Fairholme-Backed Group Rallies to Defend Fannie, Freddie
New Fairholme-Backed Group Rallies to Defend Fannie, Freddie By NICK TIMIRAOS Bloomberg News Fannie Mae FNMA +3.68% and Freddie Mac FMCC +2.84% haven’t been allowed to lobby in Washington since the government took over the two mortgage giants in 2008. And thanks to some of the companies’ deep-pocketed new friends, the companies may not need to anytime soon. Fairholme Capital Management LLC, which has invested massive sums in Fannie and Freddie, has funded a new advocacy group that is running ads defending the mortgage-finance companies amid a bipartisan effort to replace the firms with a new public-private mortgage setup. The group, which calls itself United for American Homeownership , is the latest in a string of advocacy groups lobbying on behalf of Fannie and Freddie’s shareholders. Earlier this month, a group calling itself the Coalition for Mortgage Security began a pro-Fannie advocacy...