Last Friday, we blogged about a new sign that Director Cordray’s resignation may be imminent. That sign was the CFPB’s posting on its website of a notice of a meeting on September 7, 2017 of the Fall 2017 Credit Union Advisory Council Meeting in Washington, D.C. that indicated Acting Deputy Director David Silberman will be present and make remarks. As we observed, this is a departure from Director Cordray’s usual practice of giving remarks at advisory group meetings, with Acting Deputy Director Silberman only rarely giving remarks in Director Corday’s stead.
The meeting notice followed two other signs fueling the speculation about Director Cordray’s plans: the announcement that he will give a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio at a Labor Day picnic sponsored by the AFL-CIO (which seems like an ideal venue for launching a campaign for Ohio Governor) and the scheduling of an Ohio gubernatorial debate for September 12.
Now, thanks to Isaac Boltansky of Compass Point, we have learned of a fourth sign that Director Cordray’s resignation may be imminent—the announcement that Director Cordray is scheduled to deliver remarks from 1:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. on September 12 in Cleveland, Ohio as the keynote speaker at the annual Ohio Land Bank Conference. The announcement confirms that Director Cordray is planning to be in Ohio on September 12, the date of the gubernatorial debate. Presumably, the debate will take place in the evening. In addition, the focus of the Conference appears to be the re-purposing of vacant and abandoned properties and revitalizing of neighborhoods, issues with no readily apparent connection to ongoing CFPB activities.