It’s not exactly news that money makes Washington move, but in the past, members of the political establishment have at least tried to pretend that isn’t true. The surprise is that Mulvaney was willing to say so out loud, with reporters present.

Mulvaney previously represented South Carolina in the House, and he may indeed have listened to all constituent requests. Congress is designed to work on the constituent system, so that a citizen can ask his or her representative or senator for help. That works relatively well when, say, one needs help expediting a passport. But it’s not as effective if a citizen feels they’ve been bilked by a large and powerful corporation. Their representative might be sympathetic, or she might also have a lobbyist who’s shelled out thousands of dollars who will serve as a counterweight. Even if she is eager to help, she might not serve on a committee with relevant oversight, and she might not be in leadership—which means she might be unable to rally other members to do anything about it.

For that reason, it’s useful to have agencies that are responsive to the whole country. Like, say, the CFPB. Yet since taking over the bureau, Mulvaney has headed in the opposite direction, making it much harder for ordinary citizens to get attention. For example, as he pointed out to the ABA, he had cut a database of consumer complaints that the CFPB used to guide its enforcement actions.

“I don’t see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government,” he said. In other words, ordinary citizens are important, but he is under no obligation to create a forum for them. He’s also not statutorily required to give speeches to the ABA. The bankers, however, got their access.

Mulvaney has pulled the bureau’s regulatory efforts back on multiple fronts, and asked for a budget of $0 for the year (while doling out fat raises to staffers). In one notable instance, he dropped a long-running case against payday lenders, then tried to claim that career staff had recommended the move. A spokesman later acknowledged to NPR that this was a lie. Mulvaney received $63,000 from payday lenders while in Congress. Once again, Mulvaney wasn’t really hiding anything: He promised to dismantle the CFPB, and that’s what he’s working to do.

By dismantling the watchdog and claiming that constituents can get an equal shake with the bankers to whom he was speaking, Mulvaney was offering a disingenuous claim. In the broader scope of his comments about pay-to-play, however, Mulvaney was telling it like it distressingly is. Politics is a caste system, with access available to the highest bidders and all others left to get by with what they can, and hope they have a member of Congress who sits on an influential committee. For Mulvaney, evidently, that is less a bug than a feature.