Confirm Richard Cordray to the CFPB
Advocacy Letter - 12/07/11
Source: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Recipient: The U.S. Senate
Dear Senator:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, we write to express our strong support for Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). We urge you to vote “yes” on cloture and on his confirmation. We will include your position in our voting records for the 1112th Congress.
Mr. Cordray’s qualifications are beyond any serious dispute. He possesses a stellar background and a wealth of experience that would make him extraordinarily well-suited to run the CFPB. He earned a Master’s degree in economics from Oxford University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review. He went on to serve as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. In addition to spending many years as a lawyer in private practice and teaching as an adjunct law professor, he has devoted much of his career to public service at many levels of government, including as the Attorney General of Ohio, and most recently as the Chief of Enforcement for the CFPB.
Throughout his career, Mr. Cordray has shown a longstanding interest in protecting the interests of consumers. As the Treasurer of Franklin County, Ohio, he partnered with the state’s financial services industry to develop financial literacy programs for students, culminating in the enactment of a state law requiring all students to complete financial literacy training. As Ohio’s chief law enforcement officer, he has taken a tough but fair approach to responding to the mortgage and financial crisis, recovering more than $2 billion in funds for Ohio and aggressively pursuing fraudulent practices in the mortgage servicing and foreclosure industry.
It is no surprise that Richard Cordray’s nomination to head the CFPB has received extensive support from those who know him best. Business leaders from Ohio have called him a “judicious and fair-minded public servant,” and have praised “his intelligence, pragmatism, integrity, and service-oriented mindset.” 1 The president & CEO of the Ohio Bankers League praised Mr. Cordray for welcoming competing ideas and working in cooperation with the industry. He recommended his nomination based in part on Mr. Cordray’s “real ability improving the operating efficiency and effectiveness of each of the agencies he has headed.” 2
Even former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine, who defeated Mr. Cordray in his re-election bid as Ohio Attorney General, stated that Mr. Cordray “is very well-qualified for this job. He'll do a good job. I wish him well.” 3 Mr. Cordray also has the widespread, bipartisan support of many other state attorneys general and mayors throughout the country.
We are profoundly troubled by the unprecedented threat by a minority of the Senate to filibuster the confirmation of Mr. Cordray – or any nominee – until a current law is changed, in this case to drastically weaken the CFPB. It is especially puzzling that several of the Senators making this threat voted just last year to create the CFPB in its current form. It does not appear that the Senators intending to block cloture have fully thought out the implications of their position, particularly how the precedent they are setting today is likely to affect other federal agencies and future presidential administrations.
Again, we strongly urge you to support the confirmation of Richard Cordray as Director of the CFPB. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President
1 Letter to Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Shelby from Michael G. Morris, Albert B. Ratner, John E. Pepper, Jr., and Leslie H. Wexner, July 27, 2011.
2 Letter to Chairman Johnson and Ranking Member Shelby from Michael Van Buskirk, July 25, 2011.
3 Jack Torry, “Cordray is Obama's choice to lead Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” The Columbus Dispatch, July 17, 2011, available at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/07/17/cordray- picked-by-president.html.
