Corporate Governance

Former SEC Chairman Back Obama

By Jason Cowart

Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission publicly endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush.  William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman for approximately 2½ years under current President Bush, along with Clinton and Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, have now joined forces with former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in support of Senator Obama.  Chairman Donaldson?s endorsement is especially telling given that he served under the current Administration and was at the SEC when Enron melted down.

What is equally interesting is that Senator Obama is doing surprisingly well raising money from Wall Street.  According to the Wall Street Journal:

Through March, the latest data available, employees of banking and finance companies have favored Democratic presidential candidates over Republicans by 55% to 45%, according to OpenSecrets.org, a campaign finance Web site operated by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Among candidates over that period, Sen. Obama has raised the most -- about $9 million -- with Sen. Clinton raising $8.5 million. Sen. McCain has raised $5.7 million from those employees, putting him behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, two Republican candidates who dropped out of the race earlier this year.

Obama?s fundraising strength on the Street, and these endorsements, send a clear signal -- those who know our capital markets best believe we are heading in the wrong direction.  The current Administration has gutted the SEC and consistently opposed shareholder rights.  While there may be some people left who believe these developments are positive, their ranks are growing smaller and smaller. 

Full post as published by PomTalk on May 16, 2008 (boomark / email).