Herman Cain, the businessman, radio host, and columnist President Donald Trump wanted on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank, said Monday he decided the personal and professional cost was too high.
In an opinion piece for the Western Journal, Cain wrote he was well through an arduous vetting process when he realized he would be giving up "too much influence to get a little bit of policy impact."
"It was an honor to be considered," Cain wrote. "Under different circumstances, I would like to have served. I realize not everyone was a fan of my prospective nomination, and that's OK. I was prepared to make the case for myself, and I was prepared to live with the outcome."
"But look: I'm 73 years old and at this stage of my life, I'm doing all the things I want to do," he continued. "I can go where I want and say what I want and work with the team I've enjoyed working with for years now. It's remarkable how we've all stayed together and we all enjoy each other still, and I get a lot of joy out of that at this stage of my life."
"It's still fun and I do think it's making a difference," he added.
The decision was not easy.
Cain wrote he not only liked "the idea of serving on the Fed," but was "convinced I could make a positive difference advocating for better growth and monetary policies."
"As recently as last Monday I had told President Trump I was all in, and on Friday I was making plans to come to Washington and visit with the senators who were skeptical of my qualifications," he added.
He wrote even after publishing an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal that explained his stance on the issues the Fed deals with, "I was prepared to defend these beliefs in meetings with senators and in confirmation hearings."
"But the cost of doing this started weighing on me over the weekend," Cain wrote. "I also started wondering if I'd be giving up too much influence to get a little bit of policy impact. With my current media activities, I can reach close to 4 million people a month with the ideas I believe in. If I gave that up for one seat on the Fed board, would that be a good trade-off?"
The answer was "no."
And he jokingly warned not to believe everything written about him.
"Anything you hear about a reason other than what I've laid out here is (OK, I'll go ahead and say it) fake news," he wrote. "They don't have a source. They don't have inside information. Only you do, because I just gave it to you."
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