SEC Democrats balk at plan

The honeymoon for Christopher Cox may soon be over at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A Democratic commissioner Friday, Dec. 1, said he expects that the agency will be divided over a vote later this month on investor rights. If so, this will be the first time the agency has been split on a critical vote since Cox took charge at the SEC almost two years ago.
At issue is a federal appeals court's Sept. 5 ruling that the SEC was wrong to let American International Group Inc. exclude from its proxy an investor proposal intended to make it easier for shareholders to nominate alternative director candidates on corporate ballots.
To resolve the difference between the SEC's interpretation of the rules and the court's, Cox's most viable options would force him to choose between one option sure to be opposed by the SEC's two Democrats and another that faces resistance from at least one of his GOP colleagues.