Commentary: Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall announced that he will vote against confirming Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury. Udall issued the following statement:
“We need a Treasury Secretary capable of making wise decisions that will strengthen our economy and ensure all Americans can get ahead, but I have little confidence that Steven Mnuchin has the qualifications or the judgment to be that kind of leader. Mr. Mnuchin spent over two decades getting extremely rich, in large part by exploiting the hopes and struggles of working families in New Mexico and across the country. As a Goldman Sachs banker, hedge fund manager, and then the leader of IndyMac starting in 2008 — a poster child for the Wall Street financial crisis — Mr. Mnuchin was at the center of the scheme that turned our economy into a house of cards built on unconscionable mortgage practices and risky bets. Rather than answer for IndyMac's role in bringing down our economy and costing millions of people their homes, Mr. Mnuchin renamed it OneWest and took in record profits as it foreclosed on thousands of homeowners, including many in New Mexico. People across New Mexico are still fighting to recover from the financial crisis – while Mr. Mnuchin has become even wealthier because of it.
“I also have serious questions about Mr. Mnuchin’s failure to disclose $100 million in assets and his role as a director of a Cayman Islands investment fund, and I am deeply concerned about reports that Mr. Mnuchin misled the Senate about his bank’s use of ‘robo-signing’ on foreclosure documents. The evidence is mounting that Mr. Mnuchin wants to hide the facts of his record from the Senate and from the American people. After decades of playing chicken with our economy, he now is playing games with ethics laws. I strongly oppose his nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury.”