Richard Cordray, an Obama appointee and head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced to staff in an email Wednesday his plans to resign. While he’s yet to confirm his plans, there’s speculation Cordray will return home to run for Ohio’s governorship.
The CFPB functions as, “a regulator set up in response to the 2008 financial crisis to police mortgages, credit cards and other financial products,” and was the brainchild of Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Unlike other agencies, due to the unique circumstanced through which the CFPB was created (was part of Dodd-Frank in 2010), Cordray answered to no one. As the bureau’s director, Cordray controlled the budget (other federal entities are subject to Congressional budget allocation), and was subject to no term limits.
“We are long overdue for new leadership at the CFPB, a rouge agency that has done more the hurt consumers than help them. The extreme overregulation it imposes on our economy leads to higher costs and less access to financial products and services, particularly for Americans with lower incomes,” said House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas.
A chorus of right-leaning organizations, groups, and lawmakers have been calling for Cordray’s resignation for months, in addition to pressuring Trump to can him. Cordray, they claim, used the CFPB not to protect consumers, but as his own personal policy machine.
In 2015, emails revealed the CFPB (under Cordray’s tutelage) collaborated with the Center for Responsible Lending (a left-leaning non-profit) to draft payday lending rules.
The CFPB also used some $170 million from Civil Penalty Fund to fund liberal “consumer advocacy” groups.
Since Trump won the 2016 election, Cordray has used his time as agency head to promote like-minded individuals and create rules that favor Democrat campaigns, including a $43 million payout to a liberal advocacy group that created ads for both the Obama and Hillary campaign.
From The Weekly Standard:
Cordray had pushed CFPB attorneys to complete a rule banning contracts that force consumers to resolve disputes through arbitration rather than class-action lawsuits, a gift to big Democratic donors in the plaintiff’s bar. To avoid the White House’s attention, the director held back the finished rule for weeks, quietly promoting partisan employees and buying time to complete two other important Democratic goals.The first was a huge payout to GMMB, the liberal advocacy group that created ads for the Obama and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns, and the sole recipient of the CFPB’s $43 million advertising expenditure since 2013. On June 30, the bureau awarded GMMB a $14.79 million contract for the new fiscal year. Ten days later, the CFPB announced the arbitration rule.
Needless to say, Cordray will not be missed by Republicans, or anyone interested in actual consumer protections.
Ken Blackwell, former Domestic Policy Advisor to the Trump Presidential Transition Team and former Ohio State Treasurer, said in response to the news of Cordray’s resignation:
“Today is welcome news for all consumers as Richard Cordray will no longer be able to misuse the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) unchecked power and resources to reward his liberal donors and friends. Under his direction, the CFPB has issued thousands of pages of crushing regulations, some of which have irreparably harmed consumers, and crippled American businesses. If Director Cordray decides to run for Governor, which is highly anticipated, the people of Ohio should be wary of his crony behavior and reject his candidacy outright.”
With Cordray out, Trump has an opportunity to erase Elizabeth Warren’s legacy of leveraging federal agency and dollars over the interests of the people. Good bye, and good riddance.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY