Free Republic

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Senate on Monday unanimously approved Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney who supervised the prosecution of New York mob boss John Gotti, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mary Jo White is a poor choice to head the SEC. As a U.S. attorney, she demonstrated a lack of political independence and competence. In the late 90's prosecution of the Teamsters money landering scandal, White won several guilty pleas from low-level has-beens, but gave a pass to prominent union figures who played a key role in the Democratic political campaign of 2000, and every one since. The magnitude of White's dereliction of duty can be seen in who was not prosecuted- Richard Trumka, Andrew Stern and Gerald McEntee. In the 1996 Teamster election, incumbent President Ron Carey narrowly defeated...

WASHINGTON – A Goldman Sachs executive has been named the first chief operating officer of the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division. The market watchdog says Adam Storch, vice president in Goldman Sachs' Business Intelligence Group, is assuming the new position of managing executive of the SEC division.

On the heals of the mortgage and investment banking collapse, the latest $50 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Wall Street mogul Bernard Madoff adds to the growing concern about whether incoming President Barack Obama will support effective regulation of the financial industry. Look at the nominees to see why I'm concerned. Obama last week tapped Mary Schapiro to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A former SEC commissioner, she now heads the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees all U.S. brokerages selling securities. Because her agency should have caught Madoff, charges that she was asleep at the wheel raises...

...Obama was set on Thursday to name seasoned regulator Mary Schapiro to head the Securities and Exchange Commission...