Mulvaney Won’t Fire Blankenstein Over Racist Blog Posts
At the same time, some CFPB employees circulate internal emails calling for Blankenstein’s ouster.
A defiant CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney has rejected calls to fire the chief of the agency’s fair lending office over racist blog posts he wrote while in college.
“I am not going to let any outside group dictate who works here or how I structure or manage the Bureau,” Mulvaney said, in an email to employees Thursday, saying he will not force Eric Blankenstein to leave the bureau.
He added that agency employees are entitled to their personal opinion during their own time.
Mulvaney did not specifically mention Blankenstein in the email, a copy of which was obtained by CU Times. However, the email clearly refers to the Blankenstein controversy.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that Blankenstein had written racist blogs and had said that the majority of hate crimes are hoaxes. After they became public, Blankenstein apologized for the blog posts.
Democratic senators, the labor union representing some CFPB employees and consumer groups immediately called for Blankenstein’s firing, saying he should not be in charge of fair lending issues if he took such positions. And Democratic senators demanded to know how Blankenstein, a political appointee at the agency, had been vetted for his position.
Some CFPB employees also circulated internal emails calling for Blankenstein’s ouster.
In his email, Mulvaney recognized that some agency employees had strong opinions about the issue. He assured employees that he is committed to fighting discrimination.
He added, “You can be certain that I value your right to express personal views on your own time. I respect your privacy, and I value the healthy exchange of diverse opinions. The Bureau is better off for it. I encourage robust dialogue, but I expect that at all times we treat each other with professionalism, respect, and civility.”
However, one longtime critic of the agency under Mulvaney did not buy that argument.
“We aren’t talking about someone debating the merits and shortcomings of Keynesian economic theory with friends over a pint of beer after work,” Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress said. “We are talking about the racist views of the man Mick Mulvaney chose to oversee fair lending enforcement at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and why he is still collecting one of the largest paychecks in government.”