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BRIAN A. DILLON
ATTORNEY
IWMal MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
MAIN: 612.632.3000
DIRECT DIAL: 612.632.3313
DIRECT FAX: 612.632.4313
HM•id FAX: 612.632.4444 BRIAN. DI LLO N@GP MLAW. COM

August 10, 2018

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Attn: Chief FOIA Officer BY CERTIFIED MAIL
1700 G Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20552

Re: Alliance for a Better Minnesota

FOIA Request #CFPB-2018-145-F

Dear FOIA Officer,

On December 12, 2017, the Alliance for a Better Minnesota ("ABM") submitted a
request ("Request") to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") under the
Freedom of Information ("FOIA"). A copy of the Request is enclosed. Through its Request,
ABM seeks a copy of "[a]ll communications between the CFPB and the Financial Services
Roundtable regarding CFPB enforcement of Dodd-Frank and the CFPB rulemaking authority
under that legislation."

The information ABM seeks is critically important to ABM and others interested in
Minnesota's ongoing gubernatorial campaign. Tim Pawlenty, the former President and CEO
of the Financial Services Roundtable ("Roundtable"), is a candidate in the gubernatorial race.
Mr. Pawlenty resigned from his position at the Roundtable in early 2018 in order to seek a
third term as governor of Minnesota.

ABM firmly believes the people of Minnesota deserve to know what laws, policies, and
rules Mr. Pawlenty sought to influence during his time as President and CEO of the
Roundtable. The Roundtable is the lobbying arm of the one hundred largest financial services
corporations operating in the United States. It represents corporations that received hundreds
of billions of dollars in bailout funds from the federal government in its effort to stem the
severity of the financial crisis of 2007-2008. To the extent the Roundtable under Mr.
Pawlenty's leadership communicated with or lobbied the CFPB on its enforcement of Dodd-
Frank and CFPB rulemaking authority under that legislation, the public has a right to know.

By letter dated December 13, 2017-some eight months ago-the CFPB acknowledged
receipt of ABM's Request and assigned it tracking number CFPB-2018-145-F. Under 5
U.S.C. § 522(a)(6)(A)(i), the CFPB was obligated to respond to the Request by January 1,
2018.

GRAY, PLANT, MOOTY, MOOTY & BENNETT, P.A.

A FULL-SERVICE LAW FIRM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN • ST. CLOUD, MN • WASHINGTON, DC FARGO, ND
WWW.GPMLAW.COM
Page 2
August 10, 2018

By email dated January 11, 2018, Holly Walter-a Government Information Specialist
with the CFPB-responded to ABM's Request, stating the following:

... The search for documents responsive to your request pulled more than 11,000
documents. Can you suggest keywords or date ranges to narrow the search? If
further clarification is not provided within 30 days from the date of this mail,
you FOIA request will be administratively closed.

Later that day, an ABM representative spoke with Ms. Walter by phone and indicated
that ABM desired to move forward with its Request as initially framed, without keyword or
date limitations. Shortly thereafter, by email dated January 16, 2018, ABM received a letter
from Ms. Walter stating:

The e-discovery team has gathered 935.7MB of data or approximately 11,000

documents that maybe [sic] potentially responsive to your request. To search
that data for documents responsive to your request, we estimate it will cost
approximately $5,614.20 or $6 per MB.

Since the total estimated fee exceeds $250.00, you must make an advanced
payment of an amount up to the amount of the entire anticipated fee before we
can begin processing your request. See 12 C.F.R. § 1070.22(£). Please submit
your check or money order of $5,614.20, made payable to the Treasury of the
United States, to this office within 30 days from the date of this letter.

By email dated January 17, 2018, an ABM representative responded to Ms. Walter
stating: "That certainly sounds reasonable. We will take all the documents." ABM then
promptly remitted the required advance payment to the CFPB and confirmed as much in an
email to Ms. Walter dated February 2, 2018.

Despite remitting payment to the CFPB in early February 2018, ABM has yet to
receive any documents from the CFPB in response to its Request. As explained below, the
CFPB's mixed messages regarding ABM's Request are troubling.

CFPB's Mixed Messages and Failure to Respond to ABM's Request

After making the advance payment demanded by the CFPB, ABM asked the CFPB to
identify a firm date by which it expected to produce the responsive information. During a
telephone call on March 8, 2018, Ms. Walter informed an ABM representative the CFPB
expected to produce the responsive documents within three weeks of the call (i.e., by March
29, 2018). But on March 29, 2018, Ms. Walter moved the goal posts, informing ABM that-
due to another large FOIA request received by the CFPB-the CFPB would need an additional
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August 10, 2018

three weeks to produce the responsive information. Accordingly, at that time, ABM expected
to receive the responsive information no later than April 19, 2018.

Before and after the April 19 production date identified by the CFPB, ABM attempted
to contact Ms. Walter by telephone, on numerous occasions, in order to better understand: (1)
when ABM would receive the responsive information; and (2) why the CFPB was unable to
meet the production deadlines it previously established. Phone calls to Ms. Walter were made
on April 17, 25, and 30; on May 5 and 22; on June 7 and 16; on July 14; and on August 1,
2018. Ms. Walter did not answer these phone calls. Nor did she respond to voice mail
messages requesting a return call.

By letter dated August 6, 2018-more than four months after the initial production date
the CFPB identified, and after hearing virtually nothing from Ms. Walter or anyone at the
CFPB in the interim-ABM wrote to Ms. Walter (via counsel) to explain that if ABM did not
receive the requested information by Monday, August 13, 2018, it would have no choice but to
seek relief through the courts. The next morning, Ms. Walter confirmed via email that the
CFPB received ABM's August 6 letter and vaguely stated, without further explanation, that
although "work is being done on [ABM's] request daily, it is not likely that [ABM] will
receive a response by Monday, August 13, 2018."

In the afternoon of April 7, 2018, I spoke with Ms. Walter by telephone. During our
conversation, Ms. Walter indicated the CFPB has reviewed only 20 percent of the potentially
responsive material it collected in January 2018, is nowhere close to producing the requested
material to ABM, and is unwilling or unable to commit to a firm production date. Ms. Walter
could not coherently explain why the CFPB was not close to producing the requested
information, even though it collected all potentially responsive information in January 2018
and initially identified a March 2018 production date.

Under the circumstances, the only reasonable conclusion ABM can make is that
the CFPB is playing politics with ABM's Request and has ulterior motives for not
producing responsive information promptly or in a timely manner.

Administrative Review Sought

As noted above, the CFPB has yet to produce any records or information to ABM in
response to the Request, despite ABM's remittance of a $5,614.20 advance payment to the
CFPB nearly six months ago. Under 5 U.S.C. § 552(3)(A), "each agency, upon any request for
records which (i) reasonably describes such records and (ii) is made in accordance with
published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any), and procedures to be followed, shall make
the records promptly available to the any person." (Emphasis added). The CFPB has failed to
make the requested records promptly available to ABM. As such, ABM hereby seeks
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August 10, 2018

administrative review of the CFPB's failure to produce responsive records, as required under
FOIA.

Results Sought

Through the administrative appeals process, ABM seeks the production of all
documents that are responsive to its Request-documents for which ABM has already paid,
and which the CFPB represented would be produced months ago.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, I can be reached by phone at (612)
632-3313, or by email at Brian.Dillon@gpmlaw.com.

Sincerely,

Brian A. Dillon

BD/AE
cc: Holly Walter (by email and U.S. Mail)

GP:4828-2284-7599 v2
John Skonieczny
Research Director
Alliance For A Better Minnesota
1600 University Ave W
Suite 309
Saint Paul, MN 55104
8155417324

December 12, 2017

Raynell Lazier
ChiefFOIA Officer
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
1 700 G Street NW
Washington, DC 20552
(855) 444-FOIA
CFPB _FOIA@consumerfinance.gov

FOIA REQUEST

Dear FOIA Officer:

Pursuant to the federal Freedom oflnformation Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request access to and copies of All
communications between the CFBP and the Financial Services Roundtable regarding CFBP enforcement of
Dodd-Frank and the CFBP rulemaking authority under that legislation.

I would like to receive the information in an electronic format that is most convenient for you.

I agree to pay reasonable duplication fees for the processing of this request in an amount not to exceed $500.
However, please notify me prior to your incurring any expenses in excess of that amount.

If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific
exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.
I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.

I would appreciate your communicating with me by email or telephone, rather than by mail.

I look forward to your determination regarding my request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

John Skonieczny