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November 12, 2002, 3:27 PM EST Former FBI and CIA director William Webster, mired in controversy over his selection to head a new accounting oversight board, resigned the position Tuesday. The move capped weeks of speculation regarding Webster’s future in a debacle that already has brought the resignations of Bush appointee Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the SEC’s head accountant.

<p>Washington, Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- William Webster, picked less than two weeks ago to head the newly created accounting oversight board, may resign within days, a person familiar with the situation said.</p> <p>SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt quit yesterday amid four federal investigations into how he chose Webster to lead the oversight board even though he knew the former FBI chief had been chairman of the audit committee of an Internet company accused of fraud.</p>

<p>Could sleepy Willy Webster really be the greatest innocent since Voltaire's Candide?</p> <p>Harvey Pitt poses a challenge to epistemologists everywhere: How could somebody so dumb manage to tie his shoes each morning?</p> <p>The answer is not "loafers." A moment's reflection reveals the truth: No one could be as dumb as Mr. Pitt is accused of being. What he lacks is a knack for partisan tactics at a time when -- against every standard of good taste -- accounting and the Securities and Exchange Commission have become national political footballs.</p>

LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) - If only this were the bottom.If only all the lies, the scandals, and the stock-pumping, option-dumping crimes against the small investor and the pain that they caused could just magically disappear with the sound of those two lovely words: buying opportunity. It happened for a brief moment Wednesday. For a moment that whiff of greed from the summer of '99, like a familiar smell that conjures up a childhood memory, wafted over Wall Street. And when the buying was done and the Dow ($INDU: news, chart, profile) and the S&P 500 ($SPX: news, chart, profile) had...

White House Not Backing Pitt Raise By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvey Pitt, the embattled chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was acting on his own in asking Congress for a promotion and a raise, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Wednesday. President Bush did not know about the request until he read news accounts, Fleischer said. Still, Fleischer declined to criticize Pitt, saying ``I think it's always a prerogative of independent agencies to talk to Congress.'' ``The president is focused on the strengthening of the SEC's structure and ability to fight fraud,'' Fleischer said....

SEC's Pitt Says CEOs Will Go to Jail; Watch Out, Terry McAuliffe and Jon Corzine Wes Vernon, NewsMax.com Saturday, July 20, 2002 WASHINGTON – Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt says the top brass of rogue corporations will have to go to jail before the public is reassured about the stock market. The chairman denounced political opportunism on the part of those who call for his resignation or try to blame the stock market dive (a 390-point Dow plunge Friday) on President Bush. Meanwhile, NewsMax.com uncovered documents indicating the SEC is pursuing a probe that might lead to Democrat...

DEVELOPING: Harvey Pitt, the nation's chief regulator of financial markets, said Friday he 'absolutely' will not resign and that he has the full support of President Bush. Pitt also said he had no plans to release SEC documents involving Bush's controversial sale of Harken Energy Co. stock in 1990... MORE...

Filed at 1:21 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Accusing the Bush administration of a ``cozy, permissive relationship'' with corporate America, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Sunday the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission was largely responsible and should be replaced. Daschle faulted Chairman Harvey Pitt for having ``too cozy a relationship'' with those his agency regulates, including meeting with accountants he used to represent ``on many occasions before issuing regulation.'' Asked on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' if he thought Pitt should leave the SEC, the top U.S. markets regulator, Daschle said, ``That is an issue that I...