WP: Step Toward (political) Shift at SEC (investor advocates sound alarms)

[DeepModem Mom]

A Step Toward a Shift at SEC
Senate Panel to Consider Nominations of Chairman, Two Commissioners

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 26, 2005; Page D01


A Senate committee holds hearings today on a package of nominations to the Securities and Exchange Commission likely to alter the political balance of a body that has been dominated in recent years by an alliance of two Democrats and its retired Republican chairman.

Investor advocates yesterday sounded alarms about the nomination of Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) to be chairman, replacing William H. Donaldson, who rankled some lawmakers and trade groups by voting alongside the panel's two Democrats on several key rules. Cox's arrival would tilt the power at the agency firmly in favor of the Republicans, some legal analysts said.

Cox, 52, is a self-described free-market conservative who sponsored legislation that requires shareholder lawsuits to meet a higher burden of proof. He also opposed the treatment of stock options as an expense in corporate financial statements. The liberal advocacy group Public Citizen said yesterday that such moves should disqualify Cox to serve as SEC chairman.

But none of the lawmakers on the Banking Committee has publicly opposed Cox, in part because the White House is pairing his nomination with those of two Democrat-backed candidates. Sens. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) and Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last week that they hoped all three nominees would be approved by the full Senate by the end of the month.

The Democratic nominees include Roel C. Campos, a member of the SEC since 2002. Campos, 56, a former federal prosecutor and telecommunications industry official, has been the less outspoken of the two Democrats on the commission. The other nominee, Annette L. Nazareth, serves as director of the SEC's market regulation unit, which oversees the stock markets....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/25/AR2005072501726.html?sub=AR

[Supersedeas]

1. the masses are fatigued from all those CEO convictions