Elizabeth Warren Wants to Know Why HUD Hired Someone Known for Racist Blog Posts

“His troubling views suggest that he will be unable to fulfill core parts of HUD’s mission.”

John Locher/AP

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

On Monday, Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Ben Carson criticizing the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s decision to hire Eric Blankenstein, a former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official with a history of writing racist blog posts.

“I am gravely concerned that Mr. Blankenstein has been hired as a Special Counsel in HUD’s Office of General Counsel,” Warren’s letter stated. “His troubling views suggest that he will be unable to fulfill core parts of HUD’s mission.” Last week, Politico reported that Blankenstein, who served as Policy Associate Director at the CFPB from February 2018 until his resignation last month and was responsible for enforcing fair lending laws, would be joining HUD as special counsel focusing on a mortgage program that disproportionately affects black and brown Americans. 

Last September, a story in the Washington Post revealed that in 2004 Blankenstein ran a blog with two other people, and it was rife with racist ideas about hate crimes. In the blog (which is still online as of this writing), Blankenstein, who wrote under the username “egb3r”, calls University of Virginia’s attempt at enhancing the punishment for hate crimes “racial idiocy” and said hoax hate crimes are “three times as prevalent as actual hate crimes.”

Blankenstein appeared unconvinced that his racial slurs were actually offensive. “Fine….let’s say they called him n*gger….would that make them racists, or just a**holes looking for the most convenient way to get under his skin?”

After the posts came to light, Blankenstein did not issue an apology nor distance himself from those beliefs. Instead, he charged that the posts were irrelevant because he was only in his twenties when he wrote them. “The need to dig up statements I wrote as a 25-year-old shows that in the eyes of my critics I am not guilty of a legal infraction or neglect of my duties, but rather just governing while conservative,” he said in an official statement. 

When the story came out, CFPB was plunged into turmoil. Patrice Finkin, a senior civil servant sent a out a mass email to her colleagues saying, “The tone and framing are deeply disturbing to me as a woman, African American, advocate for LGBTQ rights, and human being.”

But Blankenstein remained in his $295,500-a-year job until May 19, when he resigned. Now, he has been hired to work with Ginnie Mae, a HUD program that helps underserved communities secure loans for mortgages through the Federal Housing Act. Since 1968, the program has financed loans for 53 million households. “It is simply impossible to believe that Mr. Blankenstein, with his history of racist writing can fairly and equitable address these and other Ginnie Mae matters under his purview,” Warren said.

Warren has given Carson until July 5 to answer questions about how the hiring process was handled, and how Blankenstein was vetted for the job. “Our country is currently in the midst of a housing crisis that disproportionately affects people of color. It is imperative that HUD recognizes the importance of addressing this crisis not just in the policies it pursues but also in the people it hires.” Warren is also asking the secretary to rethink the decision to hire the former CFPB official. “Mr. Blankenstein’s racist writings disqualify him from working at HUD and I ask that you reconsider your decision to offer him a position in your department.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate