Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the CFPB. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg
A group of Senate Democrats is asking the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether recent comments made by CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney violated a federal law prohibiting executive branch officials from soliciting political contributions.
The group, which also includes Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, charged that Mulvaney, in a speech before the American Bankers Association, suggested that the bankers increase their political contributions.
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"We had a hierarchy in my office, in Congress.," Mulvaney told the bankers. "If you were a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn't talk to you. If you were a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you. If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talk to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions."
Mulvaney defenders have said he was trying to make a point about the importance of constituents visiting legislators.
The Democratic senators didn't buy that argument.
"He appears to have suggested to the audience of bankers and lobbyists that if they make political contributions, they will get policy changes that they seek," the Democrats said, in a letter to Special Counsel Henry Kerner. "These comments reinforce the American public's worst fears about a corrupt Washington establishment that sells access and is rigged for special interests with teams of lobbyists and deep pockets."
In addition to Sanders, the Democratic senators signing the letter were Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Dianne Feinstein of California, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) already has asked for the CFPB's ethics officer to investigate Mulvaney's comments.
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