Examining the Call for the CFPB to Have a Commission-Structure

investors Business Daily has an editorial here, Cordray Can Wait, opposing Cordray's confirmation and urging that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have a commission-structure.  Let's take a look:

As Ohio's attorney general, Cordray's main focus was making Wall Street pay for the financial crisis. He sued BofA, AIG, Standard & Poor's, Moody's and other Wall Street firms on behalf of public-employee pensions. His shakedown netted trial lawyers and the unions they represent for more than $1 billion in settlements and fees.

Standard & Poor's and Moody's would be the folks that gave top ratings to toxic mortgages that later defaulted.  AIG received hundreds of billions in bailout funds, gave hundreds of millions in bonuses, and issued insurance in the form of credit default swaps that they couldn't make good on without the bailout.  And BofA took over Countrywide's toxic mortgages.  Could it be that Cordray was justified in bringing those suits?

Here's more:

Most concerning, this wannabe federal bank sheriff is in the back pocket of trial lawyers. The law firm that represented Ohio in the AIG case pumped $125,000 into Cordray's campaigns. Other firms donated $200,000 to Cordray, who plans to run for Ohio governor one day.

That's a fraction of the $2.3 million the finance, insurance, and real estate sector has donated in the current cycle to Senator Richard Shelby, the leader of the 44 Republican Senators opposing Cordray's confirmation, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.  Sounds like if Cordray were willing to be bought, he could have made more money working for the banks.  Could the fact that he didn't sell out to the highest bidder mean he's honest?  Another excerpt:

Heading its Office of Fair Lending is Patrice Ficklin, a a black civil-rights lawyers who headed Fannie Mae's racial grievance unit. She leads a team using new race-based lending data to crack down on banks that apply prudent lending standards equally to minorities.

Why is it relevant that she's black?  And what's wrong with using data to make decisions? Isn't that how it's supposed to be?  A final quote:

As Democrats set up the CFPB, the director enjoys unprecedented power, reporting only to the president. The agency is . . . funded outside the annual appropriations process . . . . In effect, it's not accountable to Congress or the American public.

Just like the OCC, except that, unlike the Bureau, OCC decisions aren't subject to overruling by the Financial Stability Oversight Commission.  Odd how the more powerful OCC hasn't generated calls for a commission. Could it be because the OCC has been captured by the banks?   When IBD says that the Bureau isn't "accountable to Congress or the American public," could they mean that it isn't accountable to the banks?  Because the OCC seems a lot more accountable to the banks than to Congress or the American public

Comments

[Dell]

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[Legal Aid Lawyer]

There is a strong need here some apex constitutional body take note of the situation and put the culprits to task. Justice and law should always prevail otherwise in the long run slowly and steadily people start loosing faith in legal system only to take shape of revolt.