AP News
(2010-07-17 16:52:19)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on Friday that law professor Elizabeth Warren is a candidate to lead a new consumer watchdog bureau created by landmark financial regulation legislation.
"She's obviously a candidate to lead this effort," Axelrod told reporters in a conference call. He called her a "great champion of middle-class consumers."
"There are other candidates as well. But Elizabeth is certainly a candidate to lead it," he said, adding that "she's going to be a strong voice" whether she leads it or not.
The Obama administration must soon appoint three regulators who will play key roles in implementing the legislation approved by the Senate on Thursday.
Warren is a Harvard Law School professor who has been chairing a congressional panel overseeing the 2008 bank bailout program. She is a strong critic of the banking industry and an outspoken advocate of consumer and investor rights.
She has been viewed for some months as a front-runner to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will be set up in the Federal Reserve under the legislation. The watchdog bureau will regulate mortgages and credit cards.
Others rumored to be in contention for the watchdog job are Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr and Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Consumer Protection Eric Stein.
A source close to the White House said that in addition to Warren and Barr, a Justice Department official, Eugene Kimmelman, was being considered.
The Huffington Post, an online news source, reported on Friday that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner opposes Warren, who is feared in the banking and financial services industry.
"Even though many believe it would be impossible for her to be confirmed by the Senate, (President Barack) Obama could avoid a formal vote by appointing her during a congressional recess," said Concept Capital policy analysts Teddy Downey and Chris Krueger in a research report.
Obama must also appoint soon a replacement for U.S. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan, whose term is expiring. He is a high-level bank regulator.
In addition, the Fed must name a new vice-chairman for supervision to handle bank regulation.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Kevin Drawbaugh and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Eric Walsh)
