Columbus Dispatch...
Editorial: Fine choice
Cordray’s practical leadership would set new agency on right path
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 

Making the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau a success will require the skills of a fair-minded pragmatist who commands wide respect, and that makes former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray an excellent pick to run it. 

President Barack Obama announced Cordray’s appointment yesterday to the new post; he will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The founding director will be key in setting the tone for the agency. Cordray’s integrity and intelligence would be assets. 

Throughout a distinguished career in public service, Cordray, 52, has earned a reputation for fairness and balance in solving problems. And solving problems, as opposed to scoring political points or engaging in ideological zealotry, has been his hallmark. 

In every public office he’s held - as state representative, state solicitor, county treasurer, state treasurer and state attorney general - he’s put equal energy into looking out for consumers and protecting the public purse. Fresh ideas brought progress on old problems; for example, in the state treasurer’s office, scouring the state’s 168 bank accounts helped recover more than $888,000 in unpaid credits and fees, and bringing outsourced work in-house saved $1.25 million. 

Cordray launched consumer-finance-education programs and initiatives to help Ohioans avoid foreclosure well before the mortgage-foreclosure crisis became top news in Ohio. 

His more-recent efforts, as attorney general, included recovering $9 million for Ohio universities, schools and cities from financial companies that misled investors and pursuing lenders who engaged in shoddy or fraudulent foreclosure paperwork. 

At the new agency, his down-to-earth approach should help the bureau become what it should be: a resource to help consumers better understand the loans, mortgages and other transactions they undertake. 

His mortgage-related efforts no doubt earned Cordray the confidence of Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard law professor who was Obama’s first choice to head the new agency. In helping to set up the agency, Warren hired Cordray to be its director of enforcement shortly after he lost a re-election bid to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. 

Bypassing Warren in favor of Cordray for the top job was a smart move by Obama. 

Warren was a lightning rod for criticism from those who oppose the agency’s creation and want Congress to have more oversight of its ability to impose regulations on the financial industry. While Warren would probably not have been confirmed by the Senate, Cordray is a much more comfortable choice for director and senators should have no reason to reject him. 

That DeWine was among the first to publicly congratulate Cordray on the appointment speaks volumes. The two ran a close race a year ago but avoided the ugliness and intellectual dishonesty that characterize so much of politics lately. Cordray left office with utmost class, doing all he could to ensure a smooth transition for DeWine. 

That obvious interest in serving the public rather than a political agenda makes Cordray a smart choice for a job that calls for a public servant, not a political ideologue. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch