Thursday, September 27, 2012

‘Bipartisan’ Board Donates Overwhelmingly to Dems

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board, which meets Thursday for the first time in St. Louis, contains numerous Democratic donors, including a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The CFPB—a controversial organization with massive oversight powers over financial institutions and little accountability that was created as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation—announced the members of the board on Sept. 12. CFPB director Richard Cordray said in a statement, “This group of experts truly represents the interests of the diverse people and communities we serve.”
The board is not nearly as politically diverse as Cordray implies, however: 10 members on the 25-member panel have donated to Democratic candidates or Democratic organizations, records show. Only two members have donated to Republicans. The first has only donated money once—a donation to Mitt Romney in March of this year. The second has given to Democrats and to one Republican—the 2010 Republican primary challenger for the House seat held by Rep. Todd Akin (R., Mo.). This $250 donation comprises just 6 percent of the member’s total political donations.
John Berlau, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), said that the political imbalance “underscores the fact that there is no accountability of the CFPB to Congress.” He added, “You would think that as a courtesy, they would have asked for Congress’s input,” although the imbalance implies that the Bureau has not.

Read more: http://freebeacon.com/bipartisan-board-donates-overwhelmingly-to-dems/

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