Mulvaney Must Go After Touting Allegiance to Pay-to-Play Politics
April 25, 2018
Mulvaney Must Go After Touting Allegiance to Pay-to-Play Politics
Statement of Lisa Gilbert, Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Public Citizen
Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org, (202) 588-7742
Update: The note in this statement was updated to reflect that fact that Mulvaney’s role at the CFPB is being contested in court.
Note: In a speech to the American Bankers Association, Mick Mulvaney, who is director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and claims the title of interim director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, noted that as a member of Congress, “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”
Mick Mulvaney represents the very essence of pay-to-play politics that continues to corrode our democracy. As a lawmaker and now as a Trump administration official, he places donor interests ahead of the public interest.
The American Bankers Association contributed more than $32,000 to Mulvaney’s political campaigns, so it should be no surprise that he is working diligently to undo all of the good work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which protects consumers from banking industry scams and abuses. He recently ended an investigation into a payday lender who previously gave to his campaign and announced his intention to restrict public access to a public database that tracks consumer complaints against the financial industry.
President Donald Trump, Mulvaney and the rest of the unethical Trump Cabinet see politics as transactional – nothing more than a quid pro quo system for their corporate cronies. The erosion of our democracy will continue until we remove the overwhelming influence of money in politics, hold our elected officials to the highest ethical standards and truly drain the swamp. “Pay-to-play Mulvaney” should be the first to go.
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