| Page 2 of 2 < |
Cox Takes First Steps at SEC
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, left, is given a tour of the Chicago Board Options Exchange by Chairman William Brodsky.
(By Frank Polich -- Bloomberg News)
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  |
"It's a significant step forward and hopefully it's not the last thing the commission will do to make it easier and less expensive for everybody to participate in the election process," said John F. Olson, a longtime securities lawyer at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
The longest-awaited new plan from the agency is still weeks away. Cox has said he will launch a proposal requiring better disclosure of massive executive-compensation packages as early as January.
Agency insiders say Cox has spent much of his early tenure trying to plug a $48 million budget gap he inherited. He also has been using his political skills to try to calm the waters at an agency where internecine fighting had grown into almost a blood sport in Donaldson's waning days.
"It's essential to develop solid working relationships on the commission," Cox said in a brief telephone interview. "I think we will continue to get together formally and informally to that end."
In recent weeks, the five commissioners -- who spent much of last year as two warring factions -- have socialized outside of the office.
"He's taking a very measured, consensus-building approach," said SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins, who publicly clashed with the panel's former chairman.
Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, said, "Letting the agency chill out isn't such a bad idea given the venomous acrimony of recent months."
Commissioners also have been meeting behind closed doors to develop an explicit policy on how and when companies should be forced to pay financial penalties. The penalty issue inspired a standoff, and several acrimonious 3 to 2 votes, under previous leadership. Settlements of a few enforcement cases have been delayed as result.
The SEC's single biggest enforcement case under Cox is a $72 million settlement reached by the SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer with a mutual fund company Monday over trading abuses. Other cases have settled for far less money.
Cox, who kept speaking engagements to a minimum earlier this year, is beginning to hit the circuit. He is visiting the agency's satellite offices. And executives at the Business Roundtable, a trade group composed of the nation's largest companies, say Cox will appear at an off-the-record meeting in Washington next week.
