| Page 2 of 2 < |
President Names Cox as New SEC Chair
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) called him "an outstanding choice to guide the SEC at an important juncture." Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he hoped Cox would be both "pro-business and pro-regulation."
"The free and efficient movement of capital is helping to create the greatest prosperity in human history," Cox told reporters at the White House yesterday. "The natural enemies of this economic marvel are fraud and unfair dealing."
Senate Democrats have asked the White House to nominate SEC division head Annette L. Nazareth to fill the Democratic seat on the commission that will become vacant when Commissioner Harvey J. Goldschmid leaves later this year and to renominate Roel C. Campos for a second term. If the White House submitted the three as a package, it could make it easier for all three to achieve confirmation.
Former representative Jennifer Dunn, a Republican, worked closely with Cox in a long and ultimately successful effort to repeal the estate tax. Cox has been so bullish on tax cuts that in 1997 he left a hospital soon after appendix surgery to cast a vote in favor, according to Congressional Quarterly.
Dunn and other colleagues said Cox had a proven ability to marshal fractious groups. She cited the consensus he achieved during congressional turf battles over the mandate of the Homeland Security Committee, which Cox heads.
Cox's position on some of the biggest items on the SEC agenda remains unclear. He did not take a leadership role in pushing the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which imposed new criminal penalties and duties on chief executives designed to prevent corporate fraud.
Thomas J. Duesterberg, a former Cox chief of staff and president of research group the Manufacturers Alliance, predicted that Cox would be "sensitive" to complaints that provisions in the law requiring reviews of financial controls have become too costly and time-consuming for publicly traded companies.
Cox has three children with his wife, Rebecca, a lobbyist for Continental Airlines. Cox is a former judicial clerk who at one time expressed interest in a judgeship with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He backed away four years ago after Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) signaled she would oppose his candidacy.
Researcher Richard S. Drezen contributed to this report.
