Richard Cordray violated no rules regarding possible run for governor, federal ethics office says

WASHINGTON -- A conversation in which federal consumer finance watchdog Richard Cordray may have discussed running for Ohio governor would not violate federal ethics rules, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel has determined.

Political foes of Cordray, a Democrat, complained he may have violated the Hatch Act, a federal law requiring strict separation of official federal duties from political activity, by telling at least one person he was preparing to leave his federal post for a political run in Ohio. The matter started in July when Bill O'Neill, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, said a mutual friend told him Cordray was going to get in the governor's race.

That led people and groups who oppose Cordray, an activist regulator regularly at odds with business, to question whether he was mapping out a campaign while being paid as a federal official.

Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, was appointed by President Barack Obama to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for a five-year term. His clampdowns on the lending and business practices of banks, auto lenders and payday lenders have earned him criticism from Republicans who now hold congressional majorities and rule the White House.

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