SEC Chief, No `Cox in Henhouse,' Defies Skeptics

Reporter Bob Drummond has an excellent, if lengthy, article at Bloomberg.com regarding SEC Chairman Christopher Cox's thus far tenure in office. The article describes in some detail the manner in which Cox's performance has frustrated some expectations.

Resumes, it turns out, can be deceiving. Cox, a securities lawyer who holds MBA and law degrees from Harvard University, says he never contemplated overturning existing regulations or going easy on corporate crooks. ``It was maddening,'' says Cox, who was under instructions to make no public statements before his Senate confirmation hearing. ``I might have set a lot of the speculation to rest if only I could have said something.''
More than a year after taking office, Cox has taken no action to unravel the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law, which set up strict new accounting rules, or any of the new regulations adopted under Donaldson after bitter battles and 3-2 votes.
He has won passage of a rule requiring more and clearer disclosures of pay and benefits for top executives.