Have you ever heard of or watched To Tell the Truth? It’s a TV gameshow where three people claim to be the same person. Panelists take turns asking questions about their subject or occupation and then try to guess who is telling the truth. It was originally on back in the late 1950-60s. I remember watching it and the old reruns when I was a kid. Evidently it’s been brought back more than once and is now on again—who knew?
Anyway, this morning, when I was reading the news, I found a couple of interesting articles about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that reminded me of this TV show.
In case you haven’t been following the CFPB closely, its director, Richard Cordray, recently stated (less than 2 weeks ago) he was going to step down from his position by the end of the month. Cordray was appointed by President Obama as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2012) and his term wasn’t officially set to end until July. Since his announcement there has been a lot of speculation over who would be taking his place.
Here is when it gets interesting. On Friday (Nov. 24) Cordray sent the (U.S.) President a letter saying he would be done working at midnight! Then, this morning (Monday, Nov. 27th) two people showed up for work there and introduced themselves in To Tell the Truth fashion as the acting director of the CFPB: President Trump’s nominee, Mick Mulvaney, and the person Cordray named as his successor before exiting the position, Leandra English.
I read in an article by Reuters that English sent an email welcoming everyone back from Thanksgiving break and signed it “acting director”. Mulvaney then countered with an email of his own: “Please disregard any instructions you receive from Ms. English in her presumed capacity as Acting Director.” According to Reuters, Mulvaney also said,” If you receive additional communications from her today….please inform the General Counsel.” On a lighter note, before signing off as “acting director” he invited the staff to pop by his office on the 4th floor and grab a donut.
It makes me wonder if staff members at the bureau are walking around like panelists on the TV show asking the “acting directors” questions.
And even though the Reuter’s article went on to say that CFPB general counsel, Mary McLeod, sent out a memo to the legal division of the CFBP stating that she agreed with the U.S. Justice Department’s opinion that Trump had the power to appoint Mulvaney as the temporary bureau chief, I’m kind of thinking that at some point someone’s got to say, “Will the real director of the CFPB please stand up.”
A. Alliance Collection Agency, Inc. is a full service, licensed accounts receivable management and debt collection agency providing highly effective, customized one on one management and recovery solutions for our business partners. Founded in northern Illinois in 2005, we have been proudly improving the bottom-line on behalf of our business partners in and around Chicagoland for over 12 years.