The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently experienced another shakeup in its leadership. After serving as the agency’s chief of staff, Chris D’Angelo is now the CFPB’s new head of supervision and enforcement—the third-most powerful position at the agency—beating out several experienced attorneys for the post.
According to American Banker, the move has prompted serious concerns. For starters, many observers doubt his experience. As Professor Todd Zywicki of George Mason University claims, “It’s an unusual move…especially for somebody who doesn’t have a deep background in the area.” To others, D’Angelo’s role as a regional field director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign and member of the administration makes him “too political for the role he is now playing.”
This is business as usual at the CFPB, whose employees sent 97 percent of their political donations to Democratic candidates in 2012. The agency is riddled with liberals: More than 25 current employees worked on at least one of the Obama campaigns—not to mention those who landed positions in the administration.
Unsurprisingly, D’Angelo also beat out several women and minorities for his new position. The CFPB has long been criticized for perpetuating a culture of racial discrimination, where minority employees often fall behind their white counterparts. One former CFPB employee likened the agency’s workplace culture to a “plantation,” arguing that most black employees are given lowly data entry tasks while white employees receive more complex assignments. Another agency worker described his CFPB experiences as a “living hell,” claiming that top brass often rely on retaliation to assert their power.
The promotion of Chris D’Angelo seems like just another disappointment coming out of the CFPB.