Katie Porter: One to Watch

Until a few days ago, I hadn't heard about Katie Porter, one of the many new women in the 2019 House of Representative class. She represents Orange County, California (a district that hasn't been represented by a Democrat... ever). She's a law professor who studied under Elizabeth Warren at Harvard and worked for Kamala Harris on consumer law in California. And wow. Just wow.

Late last week, she grilled the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to find out if she understands the difference between an interest rate and an APR (annual percentage rate) on payday loans/ Big surprise, the CFPB head did not know the difference.

And now today, in a hearing with the head of Wells Fargo, Porter asked him whether the blather the bank has been spewing about how it puts customers first (after it was caught ripping them off) was a real commitment or just PR. When the CEO averred that it was real and heart-felt, she then pulled out this quote to the contrary from Wells Fargo's own lawyers:


The lawyer was saying, basically, that no reasonable investor would believe those words, that anyone with a brain would know it was corporate puffery. Yet the CEO had just told members of Congress it was a true message from the company.

Go get 'em, Katie.