WASHINGTON–NCUA Chairman J. Mark McWatters’ living arrangements–he resides in Dallas and commutes to the agency’s Alexandria, Va. headquarters for board meetings once per month–were the subject of a profile in the Washington Post. Noting McWatters is paid $165,300 annually, the story described him as a “the federal government’s most unlikely telecommuter.”
The story was headlined, “This Trump Appointee Runs a Federal Agency from a Home in Dallas.”
The Post said it was unable to confirm how often McWatters travels to Alexandria, where approximately 400 of the agency’s 1,200 employees are based. As CUToday.info has reported, McWatters has been present at the agency’s board meetings, which are held 11 times per year. He also is on hand for various credit union trade association meetings outside of Washington, where he is often a speaker.
“It’s unprecedented and incredibly troubling,” Meredith McGehee, executive director of Issue One, a nonpartisan group composed of scores of former lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries from both parties, was quoted by the Post as saying. “How can he lead a federal agency from his house?”
Interview Requests Declined
The Post said McWatters declined multiple requests for interviews and did not respond to questions emailed to him. The White House also did not respond to questions about the vetting of McWatters or whether Trump knew about McWatters’ practice of telecommuting, the Post reported.
NCUA spokesperson John Fairbanks “downplayed” the significance of McWatters’ remote work, the Post reported, adding Fairbanks said it has had no impact on NCUA operations, because the agency is “predominantly a virtual workforce.” Fairbanks told the Post McWatters travels to Alexandria at his own expense for monthly board meetings and other occasions when his duties, such as testifying before Congress, require that he be there.
“Regardless of location, Mr. McWatters is engaged with staff at the NCUA every day using the full suite of video, voice and electronic tools available to our staff,” Fairbanks was quoted as saying.
$22K On Office Equipment
The Post reported that in 2014 McWatters purchased nearly $22,000 worth of furniture for a “headquarters office he rarely used,” and added that while leaders of many government agencies must notify Congress if they want to spend more than $5,000 on office furniture and upgrades,” that requirement does not apply to the NCUA, which is funded through fees paid by credit unions.”
The Post also cited the use of limousine services on “dozens” of occasions, spending approximately $114 per trip on average, according to records obtained by the Post. The Post also cited other spending that included $582 for a “luxury sedan” and driver for himself and a colleague to travel from Madison, Wis., to Green Bay, and in 2017 the expenditure of $12,000 to fly from Dallas to Barcelona to attend a conference.
Fairbanks told the Post McWatters has been an “effective leader. McWatters has reorganized the agency, trimmed more than 5% of the workforce through attrition and cut more than $10 million in costs while ensuring credit unions operate safely and account holders are protected.”
Board Spat
The Post story also referenced a 2016 exchange between then board member McWatters and then Chairman Debbie Matz in which Matz bridled at criticism that she and board member Rick Metsger weren’t working sufficiently long enough days and said, “Perhaps if you came to the office more than three days a month and got your briefing more than two days in advance of our meeting, we’d be able to have discussions about issues in a timely fashion,” as CUToday.info reported here.
Metsger, who is a native of Oregon, lives in Alexandria.
The full Washington Post story can be found here.