Remember when President Downgrade used an illegal recess appointment to install former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as director of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? Cordray has already demonstrated he can’t be trusted to keep out of politics in his new job, despite what he told the US Senate during his confirmation hearings.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray vowed during his confirmation hearings that he would keep politics separate from his work, adding that “the work of a federal independent agency and law enforcement work, in particular, must be completely absolved of politics.”
But Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, nonetheless gave $500 to a candidate for Franklin County recorder in December, while his confirmation was pending before the U.S. Senate.
But for Cordray, whose agency is an independent one, political involvement — even writing a check for a local candidate “is a very bad idea,” according to Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota who served as the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from February 2005 to July 2007.
One wonders when Chris Redfern, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman and pirate fanatic, will call for Cordray to resign.
Why would he do that? Because last month, he called for the Ohio Inspector General to step down for practically the exact same behavior.
In an interview with The Plain Dealer, Redfern called for Meyer’s head for appearing as the featured speaker at a Clinton County Republican fundraiser last week, saying he has compromised the integrity of the independent office.
“The guy’s got to go,” Redfern said.
Also raising questions about Meyer’s appearance was House Minority Leader Armond Budish, a Beachwood Democrat, who called it “outrageous” for Meyer to be involved in raising money on behalf of Republicans.
Created in 1990, the Ohio Inspector General’s office is an independent, nonpartisan watchdog who investigates allegations of wrongdoing in offices controlled by the governor. A former auditor under Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor when she was state auditor, Meyer was appointed by Republican Gov. John Kasich in January 2011.
Making a political donation is just as much a political activity as attending a fundraiser. I can’t even really disagree with Democrats Redfern and Budish on their demands for Meyer to step down. They have a plausible point.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern |
So, where are their demands for Richard Cordray, a possible opponent to Governor John Kasich in 2014, to resign? The guy’s got to go.
Right?
Chris Redfern and the Ohio Democratic party have shown themselves to be hyprocrites, over and over again. Apparently, their silence regarding Cordray’s misbehavior is just one more example to add to the list.