appropriated only $10,000 to Governor-elect Tim Pawlenty’s transition office in 2003, Hatch voluntarily transferred $250,000 of his budget to help fund the transition. In his inaugural address in 2002, Hatch called for the state not to forget that "there are children who don’t always have enough to eat and too many families without health insurance." An editorial noted of his inaugural remarks that "Since Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death, Hatch is one of the few voices speaking out on behalf of those who have not shared in the nation’s prosperity." Hatch took action against unlawful bill collection practices. In 2003 he filed a lawsuit against Cross Country Bank for selling subprime credit cards with low balance limits to poor people and then harassing them with debt-collection calls. The suit alleged that the bank called some consumers as many as 60 times a week, including on holidays, using profanities and racist epithets. The bank fought the lawsuit to the Minnesota Court of Appeals, but Hatch prevailed, resulting in a precedent-setting ruling that arbitration clauses in consumer contracts do not apply to a lawsuit by the attorney general. In 2004, Hatch sued AT&T for attempting to collect bills from people who did not owe the money. Later that year, he sued two more debt collection agencies, including one that threatened to sue people for debts that were too old to be collected and another that made relentless telephone calls. Hatch was an early leader in taking to task illegal practices in the real estate and mortgage industries. In 2001 he filed a lawsuit against Countrywide Mortgage for not notifying borrowers of their right to cancel mortgage insurance that cost some homeowners hundreds of dollars per year. In 2003 he filed a lawsuit against a company that engaged in an equity-stripping scheme. The company purchased homes in foreclosure, promising to lease the homes back to the people who, when they couldn't afford the rent, would lose their home equity to the company. Hatch secured a court order barring the company from buying foreclosed homes. In 2005, he launched a probe of Ameriquest for aggressive mortgage lending to people with subprime credit histories. He then reached a settlement with the company requiring it to pay money to 22,000 Minnesota borrowers who were defrauded by aggressive sales practices. In 2004 and 2005, Hatch challenged Minnesota's efforts to release sex offenders into the public rather than civilly