Cordray is good choice for consumer protection head

President Barack Obama recog- nized that his first choice to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had become a political lightning rod and was never going to get an up or down confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate.

The CFPB was authorized a year ago as part of the far-reaching Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which passed the Senate on a party line vote of 60-39. The bill contains what have been described as the most sweeping financial restrictions since the Great Depression. It was a response to the financial meltdown of 2008. It gives Congress the right to break up corrupt banks and other financial institutions, eliminates proprietary trading, and ends the practice of bailing out banks in trouble.

The consumer finance arm of the bill is the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, which was advocated by Warren and which would assume and expand upon the consumer protection duties of other agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission.

Warren, however, inspired such enmity that House Speaker John Boehner contrived to keep the House in session over the July 4 recess if necessary to preclude President Obama from appointing her during a congressional recess.

Now it’s Cordray

Thursday, Obama announced his choice for the job, and it is one that Ohioans can applaud: Richard Cordray.

Cordray, who took over as Ohio Attorney General after Marc Dann resigned, lost his election bid last November in the Republican sweep of Ohio. Ohio’s loss is now the nation’s gain.

Cordray is smart, focused and has a track record as a consumer advocate in the Ohio legislature, as state treasurer and attorney general.

As attorney general, Cordray was aggressive in dealing with the very issues he’ll be facing on a broader scale in Washington.

He caught the attention of The New York Times, which noted:

“Mr. Cordray in two years in office has demonstrated a willingness to sue early and often, filing lawsuits against global financial houses, rating agencies, subprime lenders and foreclosure scammers. He has wrested about $2 billion so far, a string of gilded pelts: a $475 million Merrill Lynch settlement, $400 million from Marsh & McLennan and $725 million from the American International Group.

“Last week, he filed suit against GMAC Mortgage, accusing the loan servicer of filing fraudulent affidavits in hundreds of Ohio foreclosures.”

Valley interests

Closer to home, we applauded Cordray for his active involvement in the Forum Health bankruptcy, during which he worked to protect the public interest in the sale of North Side Medical Center, Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.

Cordray is one of those public servants who could have gotten a job in any law firm in the nation — he is a graduate of Michigan State University, Oxford University, and the University of Chicago Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review . He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.

But he chose to serve, first, the people of Ohio and now all Americans, many of whom have come to wonder whether they are getting a fair shake from ever-more-powerful financial behemoths that package and repackage investments until no one is sure what they are worth.

Watch for Cordray to come under attack from those most interested in preserving the status quo. But if he isn’t confirmed, know this: It won’t be the Wall Street bankers who will lose; it will be the people for whom Cordray has been working these last 20 years.