RTO Online can only assume that the alleged "study" was, at best, an intern making a few phone calls to get rental rates, and at worst it doesn't exist - never existed outside the mind of Sunday Talk Show Chuck or a few editors with an overabundance of column inches to fill and not enough real news to fill them.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) was quoted on Sunday by several news sources saying that his office performed "a study" of the rent to own industry between June and August of this year. The news reports also state the Senator has introduced the Renter's Rights Act of 2006.

RTO Online contacted Senator Schumer's New York and Washington, DC offices directly, repeatedly requesting the data from this supposed study. No such data apparently exists. The Senator's staff was also unable to produce any text of proposed legislation regarding the rent to own industry. In addition, according to official congressional records, Senator Schumer, nor any other Senator or Representative, has introduced legislation named "Renter's Protection Act of 2006." The Senate is out of session and won't even re-convene until September 4th.

The entire series of articles was apparently kicked off by a story appearing on WABC's website Sunday. The article had a general AP byline; no specified author. When contacted by RTO Online, the Associated Press said it had no record of any such AP story crossing their wire. The researcher said "it may have been a press release which was later pulled."

The story was repeated on NY Daily News under the byline of Samuel Graham. According to NY Daily News, no such reporter exists.

Based on this information, RTO Online can only assume that the alleged "study" was, at best, an intern making a few phone calls to get rental rates, and at worst it doesn't exist - never existed outside the mind of Sunday Talk Show Chuck or a few editors with an overabundance of column inches to fill and not enough real news to fill them. The bogus and inflammatory information was then repeated by numerous websites via the cut-and-paste newswire.

After spending 10 hours on the phone with nothing to show for it but broken promises and the mind numbing memory of Chuck Schumer's 1950's hypnotist-carnival-act intro message thanking me for calling and could I please wait for a staffer, I now wholeheartedly support term limits.