Regulation of banking in the US is often highly political – and politics can be grubby. The recent debate over the leadership of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has been the worst of both, and almost no one comes out looking good.

Sherrod Brown, to be fair, finally made the necessary intervention Monday when the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee said a new FDIC chairman was needed to fix its toxic culture “and put the women and men who work there – and their mission – first.”