February 1, 2018

 

The Honorable Mick Mulvaney

Acting Director

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

1700 G St. N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20552

 

Dear Acting Director Mulvaney:

 

We write today to ask you to conduct a full and thorough audit of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) finances and to report those findings as expeditiously as possible to the American people so that we can all have a better understanding of how the CFPB has spent and wasted taxpayer dollars since its inception. The recent and disturbing reports of the exorbitant cost overruns associated with the renovation of the CFPB’s Washington, D.C. headquarters has made this call ever more urgent.

 

The CFPB was created with the intent to protect American consumers from abusive financial practices and to also give them the tools and resources to help them become more informed and financially capable. However, as you are quickly finding out, this agency has been nothing more than a political slush fund used by former Director Richard Cordray to advance and reward left-wing partisan groups and causes and to promote his run for Ohio governor.

 

It has been well documented that the CFPB has used the money it collects from civil penalties leveled against financial institutions to bankroll left-wing activist groups. On this point, we would like to get an accounting of all the groups that have received these funds. In addition to the lavish spending on its agency headquarters, it was reported last year by former CFPB enforcement attorney, Ronald Rubin, that the CFPB awarded $43 million to an advertising firm that did work for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

 

Since coming on board as Acting Director, you have done an exceptional job of starting to expose and uproot the cesspool of corruption that exists inside the CFPB. As you continue to work to reign in the agency’s wasteful spending, we ask that as part of your mission to restore government accountability and transparency in this area, you report your findings in its entirety so that we can shine a bright light on this egregious and crony behavior in hopes that it never happens again.

Sincerely,

 

Jenny Beth Martin

Chairman

Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund

 

Adam Brandon

President

FreedomWorks

 

Steve Forbes

Honorary Chairman

Americans for Hope, Growth, & Opportunity

 

Grover Norquist

President

Americans for Tax Reform          

                                                                                                                                            

Lisa B. Nelson

CEO

American Legislative Exchange Council

 

Jim DeMint

Former-United States Senator

 

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell

Former-Secretary of State

State of Ohio

 

Rick Manning

President

Americans for Limited Government

 

Morton Blackwell

Chairman

The Weyrich Lunch

 

Phil Kerpen

President

American Commitment

 

Colin Hanna

President

Let Freedom Ring

 

Ed Corrigan

Former-Executive Director

US Senate Steering Committee

 

Richard Viguerie

Chairman

ConservativeHQ

 

Steven J. Buri

President

Discovery Institute

 

Dr. Christopher C. Hull

Executive Vice President

Center for Security Policy

 

Ron Robinson

President

Young America’s Foundation

 

Ashley Varner

Executive Director

ALEC Action

 

Col. Francis X. De Luca

President

Civitas Institute

 

Seton Motley

President

Less Government

 

C. Preston Noell III

President

Traditional, Family, Property, Inc.

 

Randal Clark

CEO

Axia Technologies

 

Norman Singleton

President

Campaign for Liberty

 

Wesley Denton

Communications Strategist

 

George Rasley

Managing Editor

ConservativeHQ

 

Rachel Bovard

Former-Policy Director

US Senate Steering Committee

 

Felix Bronstein

Attorney