Those who bemoan the state of political discourse certainly had more to cringe at this week with the rhetorical crossfire between the past and present directors of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
But things turned a little wonky — if not absurd — when they began firing religious and classical references in each other's direction.
Acting CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney denigrated his predecessor, Richard Cordray, as an overly activist regulator in a
However, the combatants set themselves apart from the run-of-the-mill Beltway bashing of late when they went positively bookish.
Mulvaney's memo quoted from the play "A Man for All Seasons," a fictional account of the life of Sir Thomas More, in making a point about the risks of overzealous government.
"This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast — Man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety sake."
In tweets Wednesday and Thursday, Cordray offered his own direct quote from More and said he had "dug into Marcus Aurelius' Meditations during the tribulations at the CFPB last year."
I also had Thomas More in my office: “I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.” And: “it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world … but for Wales?”
— Rich Cordray (@RichCordray)
January 24, 2018
Mulvaney's reference to More called attention to excessive regulation that he accused Cordray of, while Cordray implied laws are necessary because the men who serve political office do not live up to expectations.
It's to be expected that Cordray would be unhappy with Mulvaney's efforts to stall or roll back the CFPB's regulations and enforcement actions. Still, it is highly unusual for a former regulator to attack his successor on social media even in today's bare-knuckles political climate.
Cordray pilloried Mulvaney Wednesday after the installment lender World Acceptance Corp.
More retreat yesterday from current squatter leadership at CFPB, this time closing an investigation into the predatory practices of a payday installment lender that had given money to the alleged acting director’s campaign. The fish rots from the head down.
— Rich Cordray (@RichCordray)
January 24, 2018
Mulvaney received $4,500 in campaign contributions from the company's political action committee when a South Carolina congressman. The CFPB said the bureau's staff had dropped the investigation and emphatically denied that Mulvaney was involved.
An hour later, Cordray defended his own actions at the CFPB.
Mulvaney said in the memo, which drew strong
Leaked memo from the CFPB’s putative acting director says the agency will no longer “push the envelope” on behalf of consumers as we did on my watch. Did we push hard to see that people are treated fairly by big banks, debt collectors, and payday lenders? You bet we did.
— Rich Cordray (@RichCordray)
January 24, 2018
Cordray also tweeted Wednesday about his hand-picked successor Leandra English's lawsuit to unseat Mulvaney. English, the CFPB's deputy director, was granted an
Notably, DC court of appeals yesterday granted an expedited hearing and set a fast briefing schedule in the case over the proper succession at the CFPB. Shouldn’t the statute governing the agency be the statute determining the line of succession? This court will now decide.
— Rich Cordray (@RichCordray)
January 24, 2018
The case arose when Cordray abruptly resigned over Thanksgiving weekend and appointed English as acting director, claiming the Dodd-Frank Act allowed him to name an interim head in his absence. Trump named Mulvaney to the job on the same day, claiming he had broad authority to do so under the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
