Even though the election is more than a year away, the pressure is growing on CFPB Director Richard Cordray to announce whether he intends to run for governor of Ohio.
The Ohio Democratic Party has announced that it will hold the first of a series of debates for the Democratic gubernatorial candidates on Sept. 12. There are four candidates now vying for the party's nomination.
Cordray has remained mum about his intentions, although Republicans have accused him of violating the Hatch Act prohibition on federal employees campaigning for office.
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"The conventional wisdom, which is often wrong, would say that if Rich Cordray wants to run for governor, he should announce not much later than mid-September," said Herb Asher, a professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University. "My own personal opinion is that he will run. But who knows?"
Those sentiments echo those of Ohio Democratic Chairman David Pepper, who told the Toledo Blade that anyone running for office in Ohio in 2018 had better start campaigning soon.
"It's up to every candidate, but we think obviously the fall is a big time when people are going to start to pay attention and pay more attention in the spring," he told the newspaper.
The Ohio AFL-CIO has its traditional Labor Day picnic scheduled for Sept. 4 and Cordray may speak at the event. But it remains unclear whether he will talk about a campaign for governor or his work at the CFPB.
The Ohio AFL-CIO website touts Cordray's work on restricting financial institutions from including arbitration agreements in contracts in an effort to restrict class-action lawsuits.
Meanwhile, the Republican Governors Association has filed two Freedom of Information Act requests with the CFPB requesting records of Cordray's meetings, in an effort to see whether he had violated the Hatch Act.
"Ohioans deserve to know whether Richard Cordray is using his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau office for political gain at the expense of taxpayers," said RGA Communications Director Jon Thompson.
That request follows on the heels of a request by Cordray nemesis House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (D-Texas) for an investigation by the Office of General Counsel to determine if Cordray had violated the Hatch Act.
One question looming over any Cordray decision is the work of the CFPB.
For instance, the agency has issued proposed rules governing so-called payday lending. The agency has received more than a million comments on those proposed rules. It has not announced a timetable for issuing the final rules.
Cordray's term ends next summer, but depending on the outcome of a federal lawsuit, President Trump, an opponent of Cordray's work, could fire him sooner.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that the agency's makeup is unconstitutional because it is governed by a single director who can only be removed for cause.
The agency has asked the full appellate court to examine that decision. Oral arguments have been held, but the court has not issued its ruling.
There is little doubt that Trump would fire Cordray if the appeals court says he can.
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