[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13440]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ON THE CHIEF OF THE S.E.C.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, we usually do not think about The New York 
Times like we would The Onion, providing humor for America, but today 
there is an extraordinarily humorous story on the front page. It says, 
``Chief of S.E.C.,'' the Securities and Exchange Commission, ``Is Set 
to Pursue Former Clients.''
  Now, let us think about that for a minute. This gentleman, who made a 
career out of lobbying for the securities industry and the accounting 
industry, opposing reforms, representing them in their misdeeds, is now 
going to pursue them. He is the best we can do in a country of 270 
million people. The President cannot find anybody who knows about 
securities, who is not totally ethically and morally compromised from 
being the chief watchdog.
  Here is the vision of Mr. Pitt as the pit bull. Of course, that is a 
toy poodle, but it says he is going to get tough. Well, if anyone 
believes that, I have several bridges I would like to talk to you about 
afterwards.
  Now, here are some quotes from the story. This is Mr. Pitt talking to 
The New York Times. ``This will inevitably sound self-serving, but the 
fact is it is an enormous advantage to the public to have somebody who 
knows about the securities business and the securities law as I do, and 
it would be unthinkable to deprive people of my expertise.'' That was 
Mr. Pitt.
  So the man who represented these miscreants, the man who lobbied 
against the tougher rules for accounting firms, the man who has had to 
recuse himself as the chief law enforcement officer of the Securities 
and Exchange Commission appointed by George Bush, and basically George 
Bush has continually expressed his utmost faith in Mr. Pitt, he has had 
to, 29 times in 10 months, in enforcement actions, recuse himself.
  That means that people did not pay fines or get prosecuted by the 
SEC. In one case, unfortunately, both Mr. Pitt and one other Bush 
appointee both had to recuse themselves. So only one commissioner, who 
is a Clinton holdover, was left. He voted to fine the company, Ernst & 
Young, but an administrative law judge threw it out because they had to 
have two votes. Well, they could not have two votes. Is this not a 
wonderful Catch 22? The agency that is supposed to get tough and clean 
this up cannot even vote to prosecute or fine people because they are 
so compromised, the appointees of President Bush are so compromised 
because these are their friends, they are their clients, they are their 
benefactors, and they have worked for them and represented them for 
years. It borders on being humorous.
  But, actually, it is quite sad. It is quite sad for the millions of 
Americans who have lost money in their stock funds, their 401(k)s, 
their retirements; the thousands who have lost their jobs when these 
firms were bankrupted. It is an incredible tragedy. This is the best 
that President Bush can do. Tell me that out of a country of 270 
million people the best he can find is someone who lobbied for and put 
in place the policies that brought about these scandals and this fraud 
on the American people. Since he knows how to trick people, how to 
defraud people, and how to, in fact, make sure there is no real 
regulation, he is the best man for the job.
  He also said in one of his earliest speeches, he fully intended, as 
head of the SEC, to make it a place that was kinder and gentler for 
accountants. Does that sound like a pit bull? He went on to say that he 
thought a regulatory agency was best that regulated least. Does that 
sound like a pit bull? And he had to recuse himself 29 times from 
voting because these were his former clients. They are the people he 
goes to lunch with. They are the people he goes down to visit their $10 
million, $20 million homes in Florida, that are exempt under the 
bankruptcy laws, even if they got the money by fraud, taking money from 
the stockholders, the pensioners and the employees who were defrauded.
  We know in America we can do better than this, and President Bush 
should do better than this. Mr. Pitt should be removed and we should 
put in place at the Securities and Exchange Commission someone who will 
provide justice to American pensioners, stockholders, and employees.

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