The head of the SEC is under attack
Earlier this month, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote a scathing letter to chair, calling her out for what she said were conflicts of interest related to the chair's former job and her husband's job as a Wall Street lawyer.
Now, a non-profit that advocates for campaign finance reform has written a 65-page report attacking White herself and the "revolving door" at the SEC.
They also created a website with a pretty personal URL: www.nomoremaryjos.com.
(It links to a petition to President Obama: "Please do not nominate or confirm another weak-on-Wall-Street revolving door commissioner.")
Details of the report include:
- White's time at her former law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton (an "elite New York City Wall Street" firm, according to the report)
- her interactions with various Wall Street firms since joining the SEC
- her ideology (reportedly similar to the "worldview of the big banks")
- her "revolving door" approach to hiring both at Debevoise and at the SEC.
A spokesperson from Rootstrikers, the non-profit that wrote the report, told Bloomberg they "wanted to put this report out and really lay out a strong case on why the Obama administration should have chosen better last time around... We intend to encourage them to make the right choice this time."
Senator Warren has a talent for rallying people - quickly - behind just about any cause she chooses. Last year, she managed to prevent an investment banker from getting a top position at the Treasury. And, more recently, she got a decent reaction out of the Federal Reserve when she went after them for a potential information leak.
Rootstriker's website cites Senator Warren, and the report appears to be inspired by her letter.
In response to the letter last month, White said: "Senator Warren's mischaracterization of my statements and the agency's accomplishments is unfortunate, but it will not detract from the work we have done, and will continue to do, on behalf of investors."