WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) – Ranking Member of the Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection – are demanding action from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the CFPB Inspector General following what the Senators call ‘damning’ findings from an investigation into the conduct of disgraced political appointee Eric Blankenstein during his time at the CFPB. Blankenstien was hired as Senior Counsel of HUD’s Office of General Counsel just one month after resigning from CFPB in the wake of racist and sexist blog posts that were uncovered by the Washington Post in 2018.
The initial investigation into Blankenstein’s conduct, performed by the Inspector General that oversees CFPB, found Blankenstein, “may have abused his authority,” “may have misused his position for private gain,” and “created the appearance of a violation of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.” Please find a redacted copy of the Inspector General Report HERE.
In response, Brown and Warren are demanding:
“Based on these undisputed facts, we ask that you immediately open an investigation into the dismantling of OFLEO and its supervisory and enforcement functions. There are too many unanswered questions: Why did Mulvaney and Kraninger disregard the express statutory language of Dodd-Frank? Why did they hire Eric Blankenstein and put him in charge of the dismantling of OFLEO? Why did Kraninger keep Mr. Blankenstein in charge even after his racist and sexist statements became public? And were any of these decision made based on racial animus or an improper political agenda?”
Read the Senators’ Full Letter to the CFPB Inspector General HERE.
“Continuing to employ Mr. Blankenstein at a high-level position at HUD despite the troubling findings and conclusions of the IG’s report would send a disturbing message to your staff and the American people that HUD values protecting political allies over fulfilling the agency’s mission of eliminating housing discrimination, that it will shield political allies— including those who abuse their authority over career public servants—from consequences, and that you will hire individuals whose past statements and behavior should disqualify them from the privilege of a prestigious senior appointment.”
Read the Senators’ Full Letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson HERE.
“Mr. Blankenstein’s case lays bare the damaging effects of introducing large numbers of political appointees into an independent regulator. Mr. Mulvaney transformed the CFPB from a technocratic agency with a single political appointee, the Director, to an institution run by more than a dozen ideologically-driven political appointees . . . . It is now your responsibility to repair this situation. If you are serious about regaining the trust of the American public and CFPB career staff, you must eliminate the political appointees who have escaped appropriate screening, injected politics into regulatory and enforcement decisions, and impeded the CFPB’s mission as a consumer-first agency.”
Read the Senators’ Full Letter to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger HERE.
The original investigation also revealed:
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