Senate Democrats gave Mick Mulvaney until Oct. 22 to answer a handful of pointed questions about his vetting process and when he was made aware of the provocative posts. Finance & Tax Democrats slam Mulvaney over appointee's racially charged blog posts

Senate Democrats blasted Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for giving a top job to a political appointee who has admitted to writing racially incendiary blog posts in the past.

In a letter to Mulvaney today, 13 Democrats, led by Senate Banking ranking member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), described Eric Blankenstein, the associate director overseeing supervision, enforcement and fair lending, as “one of your hand-selected political appointees.”


Blankenstein wrote in the 2004 posts that the use of racial slurs isn’t necessarily racist and suggested that many hate crimes are hoaxes. The issue has roiled the consumer bureau since it was uncovered by The Washington Post last week, with the head of the employees' union calling for him to be fired.

The Democratic lawmakers demanded to know why he was hired in the first place.

“It is unclear whether his appointment is due to a failure to investigate Mr. Blankenstein’s background prior to his appointment, Mr. Blankenstein withholding information from you and the CFPB, or an informed decision on your part to ignore his public comments,” they wrote.

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In a floor speech on Tuesday, Brown decried the “disgusting, bigoted language,” adding that “placing Blankenstein in charge of fair lending was a serious moral and managerial failure, and he needs to be fired immediately.”

In a Tuesday email to staff that was obtained by POLITICO, Mulvaney wrote, “I hope everyone understands that this a unique circumstance from a management perspective and that this matter needs to be handled with the utmost professionalism."

Acknowledging the internal uproar over the matter, Mulvaney said two sharply critical emails from officials to other employees “raised various issues that I have already started to explore. Those efforts are continuing. I plan on proceeding with the utmost respect for all of those involved.”

Mulvaney added that he would not reverse his decision to reorganize the agency’s fair lending office.

“It is outrageous that Mr. Mulvaney would stand by Mr. Blankenstein’s appointment when in any other administration someone who defends the use of racial slurs or calls hate crimes hoaxes would immediately be terminated,” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who signed today’s letter, said in an emailed statement to POLITICO.

Senate Democrats gave Mulvaney until Oct. 22 to answer a handful of pointed questions about his vetting process and when he was made aware of the provocative posts.



