A top Republican senator is raising questions about how an agency official at the center of a high-stakes power struggle with the White House landed her job, claiming her application was “hastily approved†as part of “a flawed vetting process†shortly after President Trump’s election.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., head of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is now asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to investigate Leandra English’s move to “burrow†into a “career position†at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – switching from a political post at another agency in a shift that may have helped her stay employed in the government. “Burrowing†is a term used to describe political appointees shifting to career positions.
In a Thursday letter obtained by Fox News, Johnson alleged that English got her job based on information that included “errors†and “potential conflicts of interest.â€
“It may be appropriate for the Office of Special Counsel to review whether the conversion of Ms. English from a political appointment at OPM to a career position within CFPB adhered to the merit system principles,†Johnson wrote to U.S. Special Counsel Henry Kerner.
English was the deputy director tapped last November by outgoing Obama appointee Richard Cordray to replace him at helm of the bureau, an Elizabeth Warren-touted agency which Republicans have accused of over-regulating lenders and operating with little oversight. Within hours, Trump named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as acting bureau director. This prompted a lawsuit by English which a federal judge effectively dismissed, saying that denying a president the authority to make his own pick “raises significant constitutional questions.â€
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/04/senator-says-embattled-cfpb-official-got-her-job-in-flawed-and-rushed-process-wants-probe.html
