Mulvaney gives big raises to his CFPB hires
Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the agency, according to salary records.
Mulvaney has hired at least eight political appointees since he took over the bureau in November. Four are making $259,500 a year, and one is making $239,595. That is more than the salaries of members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and nearly all federal judges.
Mulvaney, as Trump’s budget director, has long railed against government spending. One of his first steps as acting CFPB director was to announce he needed zero dollars in funding to run the agency, pledging to spend down the bureau’s surplus fund. He said he was asking for zero dollars because of the need to be “responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.” But that tight-fisted approach apparently was not used with his staff ’s salaries.
Kirsten Mork, Mulvaney’s chief of staff, got a big pay bump for joining the CFPB. She made $167,300 in her job working for Rep. Jeb Hensarling on the House Financial Services Committee, according to LegiStorm, a site that tracks congressional salary data. She now makes $259,500. By contrast, Mork’s predecessor, Leandra English, had a starting salary in that role of $212,324, according to the office of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Former congressional staffer Brian Johnsonmade $164,600 at the House Financial Services Committee before going to the CFPB, according to LegiStorm. He makes $239,595 as a senior advisor to Mulvaney.
Eric Blankenstein, who oversees supervision, enforcement and fair lending for the bureau, previously was a lawyer for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative making $153,730, according to federal salary data website FedSmith. He now makes $259,500. Sheila Greenwood, who used to work in the Department of Housing and Urban Development making $179,700 a year, now makes $259,500.
Anthony Welcher, a CFPB director of external affairs, also makes $259,500.