Maloney's Plea
If there was ever any doubt that Rep. Carolyn Maloney really, really, really likes Elizabeth Warren, her latest letter should put it to rest.
The New York congresswoman is leading an effort to collect signatures from House Democrats for a letter urging the president to recess-appoint Warren as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Maloney has said publicly on several occasions that she thinks Warren, the special adviser to the Treasury secretary in charge of setting up the bureau, deserves to be its permanent director.
In a letter to colleagues, Maloney, along with Reps. Brad Miller, D-N.C., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said Warren has worked diligently to establish the CFPB despite the distraction of legislative efforts to undermine it.
"She has met with every stakeholder imaginable, she has hired a top-notch team of individuals to work under her and she has been completely open and transparent about what the bureau is working on during this interim period before the bureau formally begins to operate on July 21," the lawmakers wrote.
"Please join us in sending a letter to President Obama requesting that he use every option available to him, including a recess appointment if necessary, to ensure that Ms. Warren is the CFPB's first director."
The letter noted the opposition to any candidate by Senate Republicans, who have refused to support any nomination until structural changes are made to the CFPB.
"Since Republican senators have said that no one is acceptable unless the law is weakened, we would urge you to nominate Professor Warren as the CFPB's first director anyway," the letter said. "If Republicans in the Senate indeed refuse to consider her, we request that you use your constitutional authority to make her a recess appointment."
Oklahoma OK's Warren
Speaking of Warren, she can now count more than just having been raised in Oklahoma as something she has in common with American Bankers Association chief Frank Keating, a former governor of the state.
Warren, the de facto head of the CFPB, was recently announced as one of the 2011 inductees into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. The Oklahoma Heritage Association, which selects the inductees, said among her accomplishments were advising the Obama administration on the formation of the CFPB, teaching law at Harvard University, serving on legal and financial-related commissions and writing "nine books and more than 100 scholarly articles dealing with credit and economic stress."
Keating received the same honor in 2005, and joining Warren in the 2011 class will be the former governor's wife, Cathy Keating. "She has focused much of her life on community service, most prominently while she was first lady of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003," the Heritage Association said.
The induction ceremony will be in November.
Gallagher to SEC
The White House announced last week it would nominate Daniel M. Gallagher Jr., a Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP partner who focuses on regulatory issues, to become a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission. If Gallagher is confirmed, he would serve for a term expiring in June 2016. He would succeed Kathleen Casey, a former staff director of the Senate Banking Committee, whose term on the SEC is expiring.
Gallagher formerly was deputy director in the SEC's trading and markets division.
The Obama administration also announced it was renominating SEC member Luis Aguilar to another term, expiring in 2015.
Adamske's New Job
After a stint at the Treasury Department and running communications for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., during debate of the Dodd-Frank Act, Steven Adamske is headed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission next month.
Adamske will be the CFTC's director of public affairs, succeeding Scott Schneider.
He comes to the agency after being deputy assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs, and formerly communications director for the House Financial Services Committee under Frank.
"Steve has been a successful communications strategist for 20 years," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a press release. "His experience at the Treasury Department and on the House Financial Services Committee will prove invaluable as the CFTC works to finalize rules to bring oversight to the swaps markets."
