Bob Sullivan / msnbc.com

Rich Cordray, in his Columbus, Ohio office last year.

Answer: The man President Barack Obama hopes can magically overcome the partisan divide in Washington D.C.

Question: Who is Rich Cordray?

It's a question millions of Americans are about to ask themselves, if they haven't already. Their three-year romance with consumer zealot and media star Elizabeth Warren just ended badly, as Warren was not picked to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Cordray is her surprise replacement. Apart from being a former “Jeopardy” champion -- a piece of trivia many already seem to know -- who is Rich Cordray?  

Warren -- a Harvard professor, best-selling author, and darling of TV programs like The Daily Show -- was the chief architect and driving force behind creation of the new consumer agency, which is the most visible part of the administration's financial reform efforts. But Warren's high-profile disdain for banks and Wall Street made her too divisive for Obama's taste, and she was ultimately passed over to run the agency.

Cordray, a relative unknown on the national stage, was named last week instead, but his selection can hardly be cast as a "compromise candidate."  Cordray, Ohio attorney general from 2009 through early 2011, was the face of government action against mortgage companies during the height of the financial collapse; his office sued AIG, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several other lenders for investment fraud related to the mortgage crisis. He earned more than $2 billion in settlements from those firms.

The soft-spoken Midwesterner stands in contrast to Warren, the Harvard bankruptcy expert. He often shuns shoes and walks around his office in socks, and he never strides into a room with the air of a powerful man. His boyish looks could easily trick an unfamiliar visitor into thinking he's a law clerk; he's been favorably compared to the “30 Rock” TV show intern "Kenneth."  But friends and former staff members say his powerful intellect, inherent reasonableness and dogged work ethic quickly replace those first impressions with the image of a man who relentlessly fights for consumers – and usually wins.

"He is as authentic as you can get.  He's the same person when the cameras are on or when he's with his family," said Kimberly Kowalski, a former press aide for Cordray. "Sometimes it works to his detriment. He would just say what was in his heart, even if I'd prepared remarks for him ... but Rich is all for that man on the street. If he meets someone and they tell him a problem, he remembers it, and he acts on it, and three months later, he'll check to make sure it got fixed. Things never fall off his radar."

That’s true even if that means Cordray must write follow-up e-mails at 4 a.m., which Kowalski said was common.

“I’m sure many people have said this: Rich is a machine,” she said.  “It’s amazing to sit back and watch him work.”

It’s hard to imagine Cordray will make it through the confirmation process unscathed, if at all: in a political environment poisoned by debt ceiling negotiations, a renewed fight over the new consumer agency is sure to be bitter. But friends say the mild-mannered, persuasive Cordray, who has argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, may yet have something to say about that.

As is administration policy for pending appointees, Cordray rejected interview requests for this story. But friends and former co-workers paint a clear picture of Cordray as a gentle, reasonable, smart lawyer who cares for consumers but applies the law even-handedly. A devoted Democrat, Republicans can be found among his biggest supporters, and he is a hero in his conservative hometown suburb of Grove City. Still, many consider his appointment a non-starter, as 44 Senate Republicans have signed a pledge to block confirmation of anyone to head the new consumer agency unless it is dramatically reconfigured.

“Mr. Cordray's nomination is dead on arrival in the Senate and will remain so until … reasonable changes are made,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., wrote in a recent editorial.

Cordray and wife Peggy still live in the Columbus, Ohio, suburb where Cordray was grew up.  Their 12-year-old twins go to middle school there; his brother Frank is an orthodontist in town, and the two brothers regularly sponsor a local summer league basketball team called "Cordrays’ Cagers."

Friend Paul Cappuccio, now executive vice president and general counsel for Time Warner Inc., met Cordray when the two were just out of law school, clerking together at the Supreme Court.

"At 26 years old, it was clear to me that was one of most extraordinary people I'd ever meet," said Cappuccio, a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. "You'd look at Rich and you just knew the guy was going back to Franklin County, Ohio, and you knew he'd be happy as Franklin County treasurer

But the small-town Midwesterner had big legal aspirations -- after graduating from Michigan State, he earned a master's degree in economics from Oxford and a law degree from the University of Chicago; then, he served as a law clerk for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.  Cordray's legal mind set him apart, Cappuccio recalls.

"Kennedy liked having robust debates in his office, to make sure he got things right.  And he used to half-jokingly refer to Rich as 'my lawyer' during the debates," Cappuccio said. "Rich was the level-headed, balanced one."

Cordray's quick mind also helped him avoid a mountain of student loan debt while he was in law school; in 1987, he had a five-day winning streak on the TV game show Jeopardy, netting him $45,000, which he used to pay off the debt.

He returned to Ohio in 1988 and wasted little time beginning his political career, winning a seat in the state Legislature in 1990.  Since then, he's held various state posts, and while he’s been called a “rising star” more than once, his political record is mixed – he has lost races for the U.S. House and Senate, and a re-election bid for state attorney general.

But when he wins, he hits the ground running. As Ohio state treasurer, he created the nation's most comprehensive personal finance education program. Ohio students will soon be unable to graduate from high school without earning personal finance credits; he oversaw the training of hundreds of teachers in financial education.

"We were going through a period of time with incredible foreclosures rates, bankruptcy rates, and the credit card industry was out of control," said Tom Rutan, a former Grove City High School principal who now runs the state's financial education office.  "It had a big impact on him. He has an economic degree so he has a strong passion for financial literacy. It's not the total solution, but it’s certainly one way to help people avoid these pitfalls."

Cordray won a special election for state attorney general in 2008 after the embarrassing resignation of Democrat Marc Dann, who was embroiled in an office sex scandal.  The straight-shooting, mild-mannered Cordray was the perfect choice to stabilize and refocus the distracted office.

"He did a lot while he was there. He was in the middle of a real storm from all sides, and he had to sort things out," said Sheryl Harris, consumer affairs columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 

He immediately focused on the mortgage industry, and within months had filed lawsuits against some of the nation’s largest lending institutions.

“I get the sense that as attorney general he saw his job was to protect the public, and he threw himself into that job,” Harris said.  “He decided he was going to do this Wall Street push back, and he went after them.”

Cordray's appointment last year as head of enforcement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was his first job at the federal level, and it's an open question if Cordray is ready to deal with the political wear-and-tear of Washington, D.C.  But he's hardly a political novice; in fact he's made no secret of his future plans to run for the governor's office in Ohio.  Search for blemishes on his record and you won't find many, but he has been accused of aspirational grandstanding. When he was serving as state treasurer, he pushed through a regulation that forced residents and businesses to make out checks personally to him when paying state fees, requiring the payee line to read; "Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray," rather than simply, “Ohio State Treasury.” Local papers said the move politically motivated and absurdly self-promotional.

But those who know him say even the politics he plays are borne of real desire to serve.  His sense of service comes from both parents.  Cordray's mother, who died in 1980, was a social worker; his father, Frank, 93, worked with the developmentally disabled for 43 years, and has been legally blind since birth.

"I've met his father many times. Whenever we get together he helps answer the question, 'why does Rich look 20 years younger than the rest of us?' But his father just taught him, 'Do things the right way.' He is very clean cut, a guy's guy," Cappuccio said. "That's why Rich is not in it for himself. He is not ideological. He is a caring public servant."

It’s not easy to get personal stories out of friends, in part because Cordray is “all business,” said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who worked with Cordray on several joint state lawsuits.

Cordray is a good choice to head the consumer bureau, Madigan said, because his experience in the two treasurer’s offices and his economics degree give him an appreciation for both consumer issues and the challenges of running a business.

“He's got a gold plated resume, and his experience is perfect for being the director,” she said. “He has a great appreciation of the economy and fiscal matters. We're going to get someone who appreciates the need to rebuild the economy in a way that doesn't take advantage of consumers.”

But Cordray will be fair, she stressed.  “One thing about Rich: you just can't call Rich Cordray a zealot. He’s measured. This is a person to be scared of if you are operating illegally and unfairly, but not a person to be scared of it you are running a fair business.

 “Plus, how can you not be charmed by this brilliant guy who is a Jeopardy champion?”  

During his failed re-election bid for the AG’s office last fall, Cordray allowed himself a moment to wax philosophical about politics in an interview with the Middletown Journal.

“I’ve always felt that politics is about choices and leadership and setting the direction of a community or state or country. That’s an important thing to be engaged in,” Cordray said. “The founding generation didn’t have a problem with that question. They didn’t ask one another, ‘Why do you want to be in politics?’ They knew it was important. And I think it has not changed over 200 years, even though people feel that politics has been pretty scuffed up over the years. And there (are) a lot of people who fall short of the minimal expectations that the public has for public officials.”

Cordray's stay at the consumer agency is likely to be short-lived. In fact, given the possibility that he won't be confirmed, and his desire to return to Ohio, there’s obvious speculation about why Obama would drag him through the appointment process in the first place, speculation that no one close to him would indulge in on the record.

One running theory: It keeps Warren out of the mess, clearing the way for her to run for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, and at the same time raises Cordray’s profile for a future run at the governor’s office.

But if he is confirmed – or Obama surprises observers and installs him as a recess appointment -- what should consumers expect from him?

“I think they could expect a professionally run office,” said Harris, the Cleveland reporter. “They could expect pragmatic decision-making. I think they could expect that if cases were filed (against companies), they’d be fairly good cases. He really pays attention to details.”

Confirmed or not, consumers should expect to know who Rich Cordray is, sooner or later, says Cappuccio.

“Rich is about as ideologically different from me as possible,” he said. “I miss Ronald Reagan every day of my life. I miss Margaret Thatcher every day of my life. …  But if Rich becomes governor of Ohio, he immediately becomes the best presidential candidate the Democrats have … and I would vote for him.  It would be the first time in my life I’d vote Democrat.” 

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With back-to-school buying just around the corner, smartphones cornering the teen-age market and word circulating that children may be learning to operate cellphones before they learn to tie their shoes, parents are facing an ever more complex decision:

What's the right age to give kids a cellphone?

Below, we'll ask you to share your policy, but first, here's a brief look at what some experts think.

In response to other stories we've run on msnbc.com, plenty of parents say they keep phones out of their kids' hands until they can drive or until they get to college.  Perhaps.  But study after study tells a different story. Here's one: Research firm IDC says seven out of 10 kids aged 10 to 14 have phones. Here's another: Pew says one out of three 12-year-olds frequently text their friends, while only one out of four frequently talk face to face.

That means the social pressure screws are turning really hard on those three in 10 families that are trying to hold out.  Still, giving a kid a phone is one of those important rite-of-passage moments -- like a first date, or first solo drive -- and permission shouldn't be granted lightly. It's also usually a one-way street -- good luck prying the phone out of their hands -- so no parent should feel rushed or pushed into the decision.

What factors should go into making the choice?  Don't expect the cellphone industry to help.  Carriers insist they don't have an opinion. The cellphone trade industry group, CTIA, says much the same thing.

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Ongoing series: Red Tape Parenting Debates
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"It's such a personal decision, like when do you put the kid in their own room, or when should they go to bed. We would completely defer to the parents," said John Walls, CTIA spokesman. "But it is becoming an increasingly important decision."

In fact, parents searching for even general guidelines -- let alone a recommended age -- really won't find one. Psychologists generally echo the same vague advice.

"There can't be a single answer," said Dr. Cornelia Brunner, deputy director of the Center for Children and Technology, who holds a Ph. D. in developmental psychology. Circumstances and maturity levels vary dramatically, and parents know their kids best, she said.

Brunner has sympathy with parents trying to sort through the options.

"These things are so new in our culture that we don't know how to get a hold of (the issues) yet," she said.

There are seemingly endless factors to consider, beginning with economics. Cellphones are easily turned into limit-free credit cards by crafty wireless firms; stories of $10,000 phone bills should be enough to scare parents about that.  Health concerns are scary, too.  Studies about the cancer risks associated with cellphone use are inconclusive, but whatever risks may ultimately be found, children's formative brains are likely at an even higher risk. 

There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that cellphones impact kids' social interactions with each other, and with their parents. One oft-raised concern: the digital umbilical cord. Some kids with phones call their parents every time they have even the slightest problem, robbing them of experiences that will teach them how to solve problems on their own. 

Of course, the more mundane risks are of most immediate concern: Is your kid mature enough to ignore the phone while at school? Is your kid strong enough to resist the inevitable temptations a phone brings, like late-night texting that impacts their ability to learn in school the next day? Female teens send an average of 4,000 texts per month -- that's a real concern.  Will your kid ever talk face-to-face with you again, or succumb to what seems to be unavoidable cellphone addiction?  Will your kid use the phone to bully other kids, or will he or she be bullied? Is your kid street-smart enough to ward off approaches by sexual predators or others who might do harm?

There is plenty to fear from cellphones, but like all fears, some are well-founded and some are fantasy. While social pressure is a bad tool for guiding parents' choices, so is fear, said Brunner. A cellphone can be perfectly appropriate, even for very young children, based on circumstances.  Plenty of kids in complicated life situations are safer because they have cellphones -- kids who must travel far for school, and often must wait for a parent to pick them up, for example. The Internet is crowded with stories of parents who purchased their kids cellphones after they lost track of them at an amusement park or on vacation.  The tragedy the Columbine murders and the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when parents and children were separated in some cases for a day or two, led to a surge of kid cell phone purchases.

"It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing," Brunner said. "That kind of thinking is borne out of fear."

One way out of the black-and-white, cellphone-or-no-cellphone debate, is to consider limited-use phones or technology blocks. More parents should consider cellphones with training wheels. Most carriers offer relatively sophisticated tools that can clamp down on unwanted uses.  AT&T's Smart Limits, for example, lets parents control the times the child's handset can send and receive texts, or prevent the phone from making calls outside a pre-set list of phone numbers.

"If you need help to set limits for your kids, why not have the technology itself help you set the kinds of limits that are appropriate?" she said. "As a parent, what you want is to help your kids have balance, and the technology can help."

Such blocks bring the same challenges as Internet blocking software, however – the tools can be hard to use, parents often don't have time to manage them, kids finds ways around them. Perhaps that's why limited-use, kid-friendly phones like Verizon's Migo and AT&T's Firefly never really got off the ground.

Perhaps the explosion of the child smart phone market will change that. It certainly should, Brunner said.

"Talking about cellphones and talking about smartphones, they are two different things," she said.  "Communications devices are needed. There are some kids who need phones as early as possible, it makes them safer. But when it comes to small portable devices on which they can do everything, that's a different issue. There has to be a set of safeguards in place."

This year, cellphone sales in the  U.S. crossed an important threshold, soaring from 35 percent to 55 percent, according to Nielson.  Comscore says the 13- to 17-year-old smartphone market grew 45 percent in the last 12 months.  That means it’s very likely the next phone a parent buys a child will be an Android, an iPhone, or some other smartphone.

That's why Brunner thinks it's time to substantially change the conversation away from the simple question, "Should I give my kids a phone, yes or no?"  The real issue is: What are your kids doing with their phones?

"We have to move away from the device and to the activity," she said.  "We need to talk with them about what they are doing with it and make sure we understand that.  We keep thinking our kids are addicted to the device, but it's not the device, it's the things they are doing with the device."

Of course, parents can chose the shut-down route, and the data suggests three out of 10 are doing just that. Flat-out denying their kids access might be counterproductive, however. They'll be shut out of social circles, and when they ultimately get their own phones as older teen-agers, they may not have the skills to use them appropriately, Brunner said.

"Just say no works about as well in technology as it has in other areas of life," she said.  "If you do that, you are making a statement that 'We are different,' and that's your prerogative.  But it may ultimately not be the best choice."

It may be better to use the phones as a chance to teach kids about the world they live in, she said.

"I have no doubt (cellphones) are more dangerous than they need to be, and we should worry about that," she said.  "But the point is they are here not going away, so how do we teach kids to use them in a way that is most constructive, so they feel at home in this (digital) world?"

RED TAPE WRESTLING TIPS

Parents can familiarize themselves with various blocking tools offered by carriers by looking at this page, maintained by CTIA. More general information on appropriate cell phone use can be found here.

Individual handsets also offer blocking features. The iPhone, for example, is easily limited by clicking on settings, then "general," and then "restrictions." 

Here are some other suggested strategies:

*Don't give kids a phone until they can help pay for it, says Kiplinger's Janet Bodnar.  (Sensible, but apparently only 9 percent of teens pay for their phones, says Boston.com).

*It's important to note that children of a certain age treat everything as a toy -- they'll lose them, they'll leave them outside in the rain, they'll play catch with them. What's that certain age? Only you know, points out ParentingFamilyMoney.com

*Patch.com offers a good idea to prevent the dreaded texting all-nighters -- force the kids to charge their phones overnight in mom and dad's room.

*Finally, parents are easily seduced into the seemingly low cost of family plans and simply add their child when the time comes. Of course, we all know the phenomenon called cellphone bill creep.  A limited 200-minute plan for $9.99 quickly turns into a $60 unlimited Internet, text and calling phone.  Parents who simply want their kids to be safe should strongly consider pre-paid phones, which can be as cheap as $50 and come with capped, predictable costs. Now there's a limit.

What's your strategy or plan for dealing with the kid- and-cellphones question? Comment below.

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Parkmobile USA Inc.

Drivers in many cities can now keep the change and phone in parking fees.

Coin operated parking meters appear poised to go the way of the typewriter and the Sony Walkman, and parking in many American cities is about to get much easier.  But like many modern conveniences, this advancement comes with a price -- more specifically, a fee -- and it raises thorny privacy questions.

No quarters? No problem. Beginning this month, drivers all over Washington, D.C., can simply phone in their payment for one of 17,000 city parking spaces, or use a smartphone app.  The system, run by Atlanta-based Parkmobile, can even send you a text message when your time runs low, so you can hustle back to the car and beat the meter maid.  If allowed, you can even pay for more parking time, right from the app, without leaving the restaurant or the store you're in.

San Francisco is experimenting with an even more ambitious system -- one that threatens to put a few good luck charms out of work -- that can tell drivers where the empty parking spots are, thanks to integrated curbside sensors.

"Mobile parking is indeed on the forefront," said Casey Jones, chairman of the International Parking Institute, based in Washington, D.C. "We are using technology to improve the whole parking experience."

Think of it as EZPass of parking. Mobile apps could someday end the need to pay for meter coin collectors -- and perhaps put meter maids out of work. And already drivers can pay without leaving their car seat, and without having to dig under the seats for spare change.

Two-year-old Parkmobile – owned by an Australian firm of the same name -- has contracts with more than 100 U.S. communities, including Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta. A new system is slated to come online in Portland next month. Verrus, which will operate PayByPhone in San Francisco, says it's in 85 cities, and collects payments for private parking lots in big cities like Seattle. 

There have been other efforts to remove quarters from the parking equation, such as so-called multi-space meters used now in many jurisdictions. They are an imperfect solution, however. Drivers have to leave their car, trek to a centrally located machine, obtain a sticker, and then return to the car to stick it on the dashboard.  Mobile parking has clear advantages.  

Those advantages come at a cost, however.  In D.C., parkers pay 35 cents each time they use the service; PayByPhone will get 45 cents per transaction from San Francisco drivers.  That might sounds like a lot if you planned do just throw a quarter in a meter and drop off some mail, but places like Washington now charge up to $3 per hour at meters, making the fee seem more reasonable.

Jones, the parking institute official, thinks it's a small price to pay for a warning that your meter time is running short.

"For me to pay 35 cents, I wouldn’t care because I don’t want a ticket,” he said. “When people start to use this and get that benefit, it’s a little insurance policy for a small fee, I think they'll agree. … Let’s say I buy an hour but my meeting runs long. I get a text that says the meter about to expire. That in and of itself will alleviate a ton of frustration, the ability to say, ‘I don't have to panic and rush out of the meeting.’”

Mobile parking offers another advantage: It takes the guesswork out of how much time to pay for when you park. Thanks to the text reminders, drivers can pay for only the time they need. Multi-space meter users tend to buy the maximum allowable time -- and the machines are designed to encourage that -- to minimize ticket risks.

Of course, any system that can tell you when your parking time is about to expire could theoretically inform local law enforcement of the same thing.  Anyone who's ever received a ticket for being 1 or 2 minutes overtime could imagine the glee an eager meter maid might feel at such an automated system.

Dyer swears Parkmobile doesn't have such a system, and it won't. ("We are a service trying to make people's experience better," she said.)  Jones said the notion of such gleeful parking enforcement officers is a myth (even though enterprising New York Times reporters have proven such people do exist, at least in New York).

Similar systems in other parts of the world are routinely used as a law enforcement tools. Canadian cities have indicated their mobile parking tools help with over a dozen law enforcement actions.

“We have programs that let police check not only parking status but permits and whether the car is properly insured, stolen, etc.,” Naomi Omessi, a marketing executive at CelloPark Israel, bragged to the Toronto Globe and Mail recently. 

Parkmobile USA Inc.

Users must sign up with the service, and provide vital details such as licence plate information and credit card numbers -- intially, not as easy as finding a quarter -- but after sign up, parking payment is only a few clicks away.

U.S. privacy expert Larry Ponemon, head of the Ponemon Institute, has plenty of misgivings about a technology that forces citizens to routinely declare where they are and how long they'll be there.

"When I think about this technology, it does have a creepiness factor," he said.  "Your car is an extension of you. Where you park may be information that would be very useful to someone who wanted to use it for negative purposes."

It's easy to imagine the data being sold and used for marketing, for example -- a nearby coffee shop could beam a coupon to your phone as soon as you climb out of your car.  The data could be used by prosecutors as evidence that you were near a crime location, and it could be subpoenaed by lawyers in civil cases, as EZPass information has been.

And it's easy to conjure up even more disturbing scenarios. Who needs a meter maid when you've already admitted guilt via your iPhone by declaring you are in a parking spot when your time expires? Parking tickets could go the way of  credit card late fees, with enormous charges being assessed automatically when drivers overstay their time by just a second or two.

"That kind of revenue might be just too tempting for cash-starved municipalities," Ponemon said.

If mobile parking is truly like EZPass, however, Ponemon said there might not be that much to worry about.

"We all fretted that the system would be used to give out speeding tickets, for example, with state troopers calculating your average speed between toll booths, but that didn't happen,” he said. “I think people realized that no one would use the system if governments behaved that way. … It sounds like a scary thing, and one more strike against privacy, but I think, like EZPass, the fear factor will pass."

Still, laws governing data collected using systems like Parkmobile and EZPass, mandating that the data be used only for the purpose of payment, would go a long way toward fostering the necessary trust, Ponemon said.

“We don't do that because there's the sense we'd lock ourselves out of some later opportunities to use the data,” he said. “But that's a coward's way to deal with privacy.”

For now, cities using mobile parking offer alternative payment methods -- quarters aren't worthless yet -- and that will ease the fears of the privacy-conscious. It's also led to scattered reports of incorrectly issued tickets. Meter maids in mobile parking cities must carry wireless gadgets with them, scan in license plates, and check them against a database of those who've paid.  Inevitable hiccups -- incorrectly entered plate numbers or time lags in the database -- have led to mistakes.

Parkmobile’s Dyer said the company works with local authorities to clear them up quickly.

"There are a few kinks along the way...but we have 95 percent customer satisfaction," she said. 

Satisfaction is critical as cities and towns struggle with the seemingly conflicting mandates of keeping their downtown shopping areas attractive to consumers during tough economic times, while also plugging revenue gaps caused by shrinking tax collection. Setting parking fees is a magic balancing act between keeping prices high enough to encourage turnover, but not so high that it drives customers away to malls with free parking. Bringing parking into the digital age creates plenty of opportunities to nimbly experiment with rates and usage policies.

Jones, who also operates parking and enforcement at Boise State University in Idaho, is hoping that mobile parking is just the beginning of a new approach that local authorities will take toward parking fees.

"Not too long ago, our industry didn't embrace the customer experience like other industries," he said in perhaps the understatement of the week. "But the light went off. We started to see ourselves as providing a positive customer experience. ... People want convenience, and this has given us the opportunity to look at ourselves differently."

The age of Amazon and Expedia has taught consumers to value -- and pay for -- convenience and predictability. Coming soon, he predicted: Drivers will be able to reserve street parking ahead of time. Who wouldn't pay more for a promised spot downtown?

"(Or) maybe you don't know where to park. There will be apps that help you find a spot, tell you how close it is to your destination," he said.

Right now, parking revenue is an odd mixture of small up-front fees on all and enormous penalty charges on a few; technology will let agencies flatten their fee structure, utilize available spots more efficiently and end penalties where the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime, he said.

"It's not always about maximizing revenue, seeking out every penny we can,” Jones said. “It's about the whole experience. … It’s taking a little but longer view."

That includes the ability to grant leeway to first-time offenders, he promised, through a system that known as “progressive fines.”  That might be the most welcome upgrade of all.

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Regan Benson was furious about the list of fees her local public high school was charging for kids to "just walk in the front door." She was even angrier about where the money was going.

"It's crazy — $18 for a basic English class; $38 for honors English; $150 for each sport; a $60 graduation fee," she said, holding a paper she called the "fee sheet" from her school district. It had nearly 100 items on it and looked every bit like a small-print contract you might get from a credit card company. "I wouldn't mind if I knew the fees were going for what it says here, but I don't believe that."

Benson said she wasn't quite sure how to find out where the money was going and, more important, how to make a stink about it.

Enter "MAD" moms. 

Benson recently found her way to Amy Oliver, founder of a Golden, Colo.-based group called MAD, or "Mothers Against Debt." Its stated mission is to get moms worried about the government debt their children will inherit and encourage them to ask questions against government spending in their communities.

"When you talk about a number with 12 zeroes in it, people can't relate," says Oliver. "But when you talk about a bill you're handing to your kids, moms get worried about that. ... No responsible mother would ever let someone rack up a $45,000 bill and hand it to their kids, but that's exactly what we're letting the federal government do to them."

Oliver is a popular conservative morning radio talk show host in the Denver area and works at a Golden-based libertarian think tank, the Independence Institute. MAD was her idea, and it's funded by the libertarian group.

"We're trying to change the paradigm about government debt," she said. "We see this as a child welfare issue, and that's the way to get moms interested in it. I call this fiscal child abuse."

Women often view money different from men, she said. A working mother views higher taxes or lower wages chiefly as a loss of family time — they mean the woman has to work longer hours, leading to more time away from her children.

Bob Sullivan / msnbc.com

Amy Oliver, founder of Mothers Against Debt, says the organization is trying to help moms become more active in government.

"This is how you get moms interested in fiscal issues," she said. "We are getting women active because we help it mean something to them."

She compared the exploding federal debt to widespread pollution in the 1950s and 1960s, which was often ignored until environmental reform efforts saw their efforts galvanized by publication of an explosive book called "Silent Spring," which predicted the eradication of bird species due to chemical industry malpractice.

"Back then, people became worried about what kind of world they would leave their children. Well, that's how we feel now. We think this is our 'Silent Spring' moment, only the problem isn't birds, it's dead economic activity," she said. "If we don't get debt under control, our children won't have an economy. There will be no growth. There will be high unemployment. We will keep falling behind."

Fiscal issues have often been trapped in male-dominated conversations, Oliver thinks, and she's trying to bring the conversation "to the kitchen table."

One way to do that is to inspire moms to get more involved in local school spending. While school board budgets and federal spending involve two different pots of money, the core issue is the same, said Oliver. ("K-12 education is where their heart lies," she said.) So MAD has a project called "Citizen Auditors," in which concerned community members learn how to read city budgets and file Freedom of Information requests.

Benson used training from MAD to find out about a $3,000 cell phone bill in her district. She also found out that her school district collects $676,000 in parking permit fees annually.

"The real question is: What are we getting for all this money we're spending?" Benson said. "People are starting to push back."

Moms who question schools boards often find they are met with "intellectual bullies," Oliver said, who scoff at supposedly naive questions posed during school board meetings.

"Well, we see them as obnoxious teenagers who just want to keep reaching into your pocket for money and don't think you have a right to ask what it's for," she said.

Oliver's group, founded in 2009, enjoyed a whiff of national attention last year when Fox News aired a satiric video made by MAD called "Baby Ball and Chain," showing an animated baby shackled by ever-growing government debt. The brief appearance helped the group collect several thousand Facebook fans. Oliver gets requests from moms all around the country now, she said.

"Just the other day I got an e-mail from woman in Maine asking, 'How do I find this stuff out about my school district?'" she said.

To be sure, Oliver's group looks and sounds a lot like the Tea Party. But she says ballooning debt and a mother's concern for her kids' future are non-partisan issues.

"For years, people have been saying the money is for the kids. The spending is for the kids. It's not. That's a lie, and it's a lie moms have bought for years," she said. "The spending is for the people in the system, not for the kids. … We spend more per capita on schools that any other country, and what results do we get?"

Of course, it's one thing to talk about excessive government spending; it's another to actually cut spending. Many of Oliver's acolytes encounter the same frustrating Catch-22 that's been bogging down efforts to shrink spending for years — sure, there's infuriating waste, like excessive cell phone charges, but eliminating those discretionary items rarely amounts to much. At every level of government, the real costs are fixed, through long-term teacher contracts, long-term Social Security promises and so on. These are structural problems that can't be fixed overnight.

"That's why it's important to become involved, to get people interested. And I'm going to say it, to get mom's interested, because men handle money differently than moms do," Oliver said. "That's why we need them in the process."

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