Rubino – CFPB: Cordray’s Full of Political Bias

According to its director Richard Cordray, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is “something that has to be kept separate from partisan politics.” Cordray has continuously referred to the Bureau as “an independent agency” and prides himself on working to protect all consumers, regardless of political affiliation. But what he is trying so desperately to hide is that the CFPB is the most political and partisan agency in the federal government.

The CFPB was created by the most progressive piece of legislation this century, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This legislation is responsible for a significant expansion of government and was highly partisan from day one. Introduced by Congressional Progressive Caucus member, Representative Barney Frank, the legislation passed the House 223-202 without a single Republican vote. It then moved to the Senate where it narrowly passed with a vote of 59-39, only picking up 4 Republican votes. The legislation was then signed into law by a Democrat in the White House, President Barack Obama.

Ultra-liberal Elizabeth Warren was the first ever person tasked with heading up the CFPB when it was first created in 2010, then was succeeded briefly by Raj Date. Richard Cordray was then selected as the first ever director of the CFPB and has been at its helm for the vast majority of its radical tenure. Under his leadership, the CFPB has been filled with leftist bureaucrats who are working tirelessly to push their political agenda. In the most recent presidential election, over $50,000 of political donations were made by 300 CFPB employees—all going to Democratic candidates. This agency is nothing short of a liberal political machine; started by progressives in Congress and now led by Washington’s most biased regulator.

The list of grievances against Cordray is striking, but at every turn one thing is clear—he’s a liberal with an agenda, not an independent protector of consumers.

Shill for Trial Lawyers

Cordray had an agenda long before his days at the CFPB. Back when he was Ohio Attorney General, he pioneered the pay-to-play system where “lawyers and law firms who donate to state and local elections far from their home base, [then] happen to get named to represent that jurisdiction in big time class action suits.” In 2010 he sought to award $20.8 million to 56 firms for special counsel work on behalf of 21 state clients. One of these firms was Porter Wright Morrison and Arthur, who donated $20,000 to his 2006 campaign and stood to make over $1 million. Another was Schottenztein Zox and Dunn who contributed $22,000 to his campaign and stood to make well over $1 million.

Illegal Clinton Communications

More recently, Cordray showed his true colors when a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed he had been using a private phone to communicate with lobbyist and Clinton mega donor, Eileen Mancera. Not only was this a clear violation of government policy—something you think the Clinton camp would be wary of—but it was also a clear show of partisanship as the messages showed Cordray was connecting current CFPB staffers with the fundraiser.

Free Market Foe

Cordray’s agenda is possibly most obvious when you look at the regulations he has spearheaded during his time at the CFPB. He has consistently tried to find problems that justify the implementation of his so-called solutions and he has continuously overregulated legal, licensed businesses. With his harmful Prepaid Rule and his egregious Small Dollar Loan Rule, he set out to take key financial products away from consumers—leaving them with very few options and eliminating the free market. Cordray has targeted industries he personally and politically disagrees with and used the CFPB to go after them, often with no cause.

Without intervention, Cordray and his liberal agenda will continue to have power. The CFPB director answers to no one, not even the President and Cordray’s term does not expire until 2018. With President Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling the House and Senate, the CFPB is the Democrats’ last and only hope of achieving their progressive agenda. It is time for Richard Cordray to be called out on all of his wrong-doing and for the people to call for him to ousted from the CFPB.

Michael Rubino is a former Trump campaign staffer.