Orange County Weekly: Chris Cox in charge of Wall Street? Dumb

June 10 - 16, 2005

The Smart Guy

Chris Cox in charge of Wall Street? Dumb

by R. SCOTT MOXLEY

In the wake of the Enron, WorldCom, Citigroup, Global Crossing and Tyco scandals, you’d think that a president worried about economic stability would be looking for safe—dare we say conservative—regulation of Wall Street. Yet President Bush would have us believe that Newport Beach Congressman Christopher Cox, an Ayn Rand devotee, is the ideal man to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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The president didn’t mention the congressman’s work on behalf of William E. Cooper in the 1980s. The convicted felon stole more than $136 million from thousands of investors—many of them elderly folks who lost their life’s savings. When Cooper’s con game was exposed, Cox minimized their relationship but was forced to change his story after contradictory documents surfaced. In 1995, a local Republican judge dropped the congressman as a defendant in a related civil case, although his employer, Latham & Watkins, settled for an undisclosed amount. Cooper went to prison. Cox rose to the No. 4 position in the House Republican leadership.

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But Cox is the extremist. He believes that what’s best for America’s corporate bigwigs is best for America. In the early 1990s, the congressman managed to do the seemingly impossible: he alienated even some Newt Gingrich-era Republicans with his drive to create new loopholes for businessmen accused of screwing investors, relax corporate disclosure and soften accounting rules.

It’s an unambiguous record: in 2001, he voted for $25 billion in rebates to companies such as Enron as well as to give a $6.5 billion tax break to U.S. financial corporations moving their operations overseas. In 2002, he voted to give Homeland Security contracts to U.S. companies that had moved overseas to dodge paying U.S. taxes. In 2004, he supported a plan to give federal loans to U.S. companies that move overseas and voted to allow certain companies to raid $80 billion during a two-year period from employee pension plans.

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Who now cares that in 1993 Cox guaranteed that Clinton’s economic policies—which he called “the Dr. Kevorkian plan for the economy”—would spark a great depression? Who cares that during California’s 2001 electricity debacle (based on a plan Cox supported), the congressman refused to protect his state’s consumers—voters who saw Enron-driven power rates skyrocket from $30 per megawatt hour to $1,500? Who cares that Cox ranted against deficit spending when Democrats controlled Congress but in November 2004 voted to increase the federal debt ceiling? Who cares that Cox could have helped prevent the Enron scandal but repeatedly blocked conflict-of-interest rules to prohibit accounting firms from auditing companies in which they had a secret financial stake?

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http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/40/news-moxley.php


RSCOTTMOXLEY@OCWEEKLY.COM

just when you think your outrage-resistant!...that one blind-sided me...thanks for the link...great article.

eom

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/InvestigateCoxRecord/k8wdz1767376?

President Bush wants to invest our Social Security money in the capital markets--is Cox the right choice to protect us from corporate misconduct? Check his record:

* If Cox had his way, corporate executives could recklessly defraud investors--and investors could not sue. In 1995, Cox led an unsuccessful fight for a radical version of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act that would have made it impossible for defrauded investors to get any money back. Cox's bill would have made the "I knew nothing" defenses since asserted by Enron's Ken Lay and WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers the law of the land.

* Cox is protecting runaway CEO pay by opposing stock option expensing. Cox thinks that while company financial statements have to show the costs of health care, pensions and ordinary worker salaries, they shouldn't have to show the costs of stock options.

* Cox thinks Enron doesn't change a thing. After the collapse of Enron, Cox "rejected the notion that Enron's meltdown should cause Congress to rethink deregulation." (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 2002)

* During his 16-year career, Cox received more than $865,000 in contributions from securities, accounting, insurance and commercial banking firms. In fact, he has raised more money from financial services firms than from any other industry group. And he's supposed to oversee Wall Street on our behalf?

Please make sure your senators ask Cox the hard questions. Click on the link below:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/InvestigateCoxRecord/k8wdz1767376?

The SEC was set up in 1934 after the stock market crash to protect our investments. The chairman has enormous power to enforce securities laws, set regulations, hold corporate criminals accountable and--most importantly--preserve our retirement security. Is Cox really the person to head the SEC?

Please contact your senators today and urge them to aggressively investigate Cox's record. Senators are being lobbied big time by the White House, rich Wall Street firms and Big Business to confirm their friend. But before they make a decision, they should take a careful look. Your senators need to hear from you now. Click on the link below:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/InvestigateCoxRecord/k8wdz1767376?

The enormous corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and HealthSouth, among others, prove we need a vigilant cop at the SEC to hold corporate executives accountable. Widespread trading abuses in the mutual fund industry, conflicts of interest involving Wall Street research, questionable insurance dealings--you name it, we've got it. Does Cox have the record to head the SEC?

Once you have sent your message to your senators, please click on the link below to urge other people concerned about corporate accountability and retirement security to contact their senators, too: