Obama Puts Fox In Charge of Henhouse

[woo me with science]

Here we go again...


http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/15711-focus-obama-puts-fox-in-charge-of-henhouse

Obama Puts Fox In Charge of Henhouse
By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
25 January 13
 

I was shocked when I heard that Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney and a partner for the white-shoe Wall Street defense firm Debevoise and Plimpton, had been named the new head of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).

I thought to myself: Couldn't they have found someone who wasn't a key figure in one of the most notorious scandals to hit the SEC in the past two decades? And couldn't they have found someone who isn't a perfect symbol of the revolving-door culture under which regulators go soft on suspected Wall Street criminals, knowing they have million-dollar jobs waiting for them at hotshot defense firms as long as they play nice with the banks while still in office?

I'll leave it to others to chronicle the other highlights and lowlights of Mary Jo White's career, and focus only on the one incident I know very well: her role in the squelching of then-SEC investigator Gary Aguirre's investigation into an insider trading incident involving future Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack. While representing Morgan Stanley at Debevoise and Plimpton, White played a key role in this inexcusable episode.
....
If Barack Obama wanted to send a signal that he's getting tougher on Wall Street, he sure picked a funny way to do it, nominating the woman who helped John Mack get off on the slam-dunkiest insider trading case ever to cross an SEC investigator's desk....

[elleng]

1. Fuck taiibi.

[Bake]

4. Why???? for telling the TRUTH?

This appointment is very disappointing, and shows the President's weakness for Wall Streeters.

Bake

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. I don't know if it's the case here, but there are "Obama can do no wrong" types on DU

and they don't like hearing anything at all which tarnishes that concept.

They'd be marching in the streets if Bush did the same thing.

[ProSense]

11. But do you

"I don't know if it's the case here, but there are "Obama can do no wrong" types on DU"

...know that there are 'Obama can do no' right "types on DU"?

Obama Puts Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare In Charge Of SEC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251280068

[Bake]

22. I'm certainly no "Obama can do no right" type.

But I have major major problems with this appointment.

You should too.

Bake

[Sekhmets Daughter]

26. It's too early to tell....

Elliot Spitzer was on with Rachel Maddow last week and said she certainly has the ability and she doesn't need to make any more money, but we'll have to wait and see how she proceeds. I think that's a fair evaluation. If you recall, Spitzer was known as The Sheriff of Wall Street and has no reason to love those guys...who left no stone unturned in bringing him down.

[Bake]

33. It depends on which Mary Jo White shows up.

The former federal prosecutor, or the big firm (Debevoise) defense lawyer. Which one is the "real" Mary Jo White?

We shall see.

Bake

[Sekhmets Daughter]

38. I think they are both real...

Many lawyers go on to be defense attorneys after serving as prosecutors...or to becoming tax attorneys after working for years at the IRS. Few go back to public service. That White is willing to go back to public service may be more positive than we currently realize. She just turned 65 at the end of December...she might want this to be a "legacy"

[hay rick]

39. Spitzer and White together.

"A Star Panel Debates Financial Crisis Prosecutions"- http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/a-star-panel-debates-financial-crisis-prosecutions/

That was the provocative title of a panel discussion at New York University School of Law on Wednesday, featuring a trio of bold-faced names in the white-collar world: Lanny Breuer, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division; Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney general of New York; and Mary Jo White, the former United States attorney in Manhattan and now a white-collar defense lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton.

Moderated by a New York University law professor, Neil M. Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor and inspector general of the Treasury Department’s bank bailout program, the lunchtime session delved into whether authorities had done enough in the aftermath of the collapse.
...

“We must distinguish what is criminal from what is reckless behavior or bad business decisions and not bow to the frenzy,” Ms. White said. “And I worry the frenzy overrides reason and judgment sometimes.”
...

“The concern is that they announce the task force and there will be cases,” she said. “It gets back to my frenzy concern. You don’t want that in the system – that kind of pressure. You don’t want the search for scalps to be the metric for success. Politics doesn’t belong in this space at all, but it still is in the space.”

Her resume includes defending Ken Lewis, Bank of America CEO, against security fraud charges and representing News Corporation directors during the phone hacking scandal.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

41. Yes, I know her resume...

Which also means she knows where the bodies have been buried or, at least, where to look for them. I remember reading that so much of what is wrong with Wall Street is not illegal...I think it was something written by Joseph Stiglitz. I'm not sure Cuomo had a case against Lewis, which is why it was settled rather than tried.

We will have to wait and see...

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. I'm not one of them. I support and applaud the good things he's done. But as an Occupier

I see terrible problems not only remaining unresolved, but increasing in number. I will not be silent.

I was reading somewhere else, hoping I can again find the link, that this assignment is the reverse of what that post says, that wall street will laugh all the way to the bank on it. I need more information on this one. If it is good news, great! Let's apply the Iceland model!

Here are other issues drawing both my attention and concern:

http://occupyobservations.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-non-exhaustive-list-of-things-that.html

[elleng]

29. Thanks, Pro.

[Fire Walk With Me]

32. Here is the other side:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022275024

[joshcryer]

36. I've never seen such a diametrically opposed view of something ever.

Tabbi thinks she's a shill that will usher in an era of corruption, this guy thinks she's going to root corruption out beyond anything anyone else has seen. I don't know what the fuck to believe. What the fuck. Seriously. It's the exact opposite view. Never seen anything like this before.

[Comrade Grumpy]

28. Thanks for that eloquent rebuttal. You sure put him in his place.

[elleng]

30. Sorry, Grumpy.

Obama Puts Wall Street’s Worst Nightmare In Charge Of SEC.

She has experience in white-collar crimes as well, leading major busts of penny stock manipulation schemes in 2000 which resulted in the arrest and convictions of over 100 people, one of the largest crackdowns on white-collar crime in US history. White’s office has won billions in restitution from major banking institutions for defrauding investors. When she retired from the US Attorney’s office in 2002, it was a major sigh of relief from the business worlds more corrupt elements.

She is someone who knows how to root out corruption, to find the information needed, and to get results. Wall Street had hoped for a business insider, but has instead gotten a vicious attack dog. This appointment comes on the heels of a newly empowered Securities and Exchange Commission, meaning that the administration has decided to get tough on big businesses who would seek to exploit people for profit.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/24/obama-puts-wall-streets-worst-nightmare-in-charge-of-sec/

Further, have disliked him since this ridiculous piece about Wes Clark:

http://www.thenation.com/article/clarks-true-colors#

[WCGreen]

31. It takes knowledge of how things work in order to find out what is gumming up the works...

[elleng]

35. Exactly.

Thanks, WC.

[hay rick]

40. Worst nightmare?

Maybe, maybe not. Everybody's reading the tea leaves and coming up with different answers. Mary Jo White's most recent job description here: http://www.debevoise.com/attorneys/detail.aspx?id=26af1fa8-0acf-4ef5-9c3b-1f08b1aa7de0&type=showfullbio

Ms. White’s practice concentrates on internal investigations and defense of companies and individuals accused by the government of involvement in white collar corporate crime or Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and civil securities law violations, and on other major business litigation disputes and crises. For her criminal work, she leads a Debevoise team that includes eleven former Assistant U.S. Attorneys with extensive experience in major commercial investigations and prosecutions.

I detailed many of the negatives (and a few positives) here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022261421

WillyT's recent thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022280142

[tularetom]

2. This should take some of the heat off the Justice Department

They won't have to decide not to prosecute Wall Street criminals anymore.

Now, the question won't even reach DOJ. The crooks will be let off the hook by the SEC.

It really doesn't matter which party controls the executive branch, these assholes have a get out of jail free card anyway. I guess that's only fair since they paid plenty for it.

Looks like we voted for Obama and got Clinton.

[woo me with science]

3. +10000 I am sure that is one of the motives.

The Justice Dept. is getting a lot of attention right now. Way to protect the criminals *and* reduce the number of unprosecuted cases by making sure the cases never get there in the first place.

The corruption is so deep, it's almost unbearable.

[monmouth3]

14. Has anyone thought that President Obama may be eyeing Wall Street for himself after his term is

over? Just sayin'

[G_j]

25. Sadly, Yes. nt

[woo me with science]

5. kick

[Oilwellian]

6. It's in your face now

And what do they want? Austerity. Next up, entitlement cuts, and the feel good distraction will be immigration reform.

K&R

[lonestarnot]

7. That's what it sure fucking looks like.

[EastKYLiberal]

19. "Feel good distraction." Is that all it is to the 11 million people it affects?

[green for victory]

8. ^^

bailing out the 1% on the backs of the 99 hasn't really pissed off the 99 very much- Occupy is a memory.

But if W did it....

there would have been marches on DC

[Egalitarian Thug]

10. K&R. Thanks for posting. n/t

[ProSense]

12. Again?

Why the shock? Isn't his entire administration filled with sellouts?

[99Forever]

13. K&R

[FSogol]

15. "Here we go again"!

[msanthrope]

16. You Better Believe It!! nt

[forestpath]

17. I'd only be shocked if Pres. Obama chose a consumer advocate for ANYTHING.

[woo me with science]

18. kick

[EastKYLiberal]

20. Taibbi has to keep pleasing his target audience on the mouthbreathing left. nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

27. And don't forget those inbred hicks in the hollers.

[pampango]

21. She certainly knows all the defense tricks that can be used to protect Wall Street CEO's.

The only way that is useful as head of the SEC is if she uses that knowledge to prosecute these same people.

I get the sense that Wall Street hired her because she was an effective prosecutor for 10 years. They were either afraid of her or, at least, wanted her on their 'team' rather than the 'opposition'.

I hope that Obama has hired her for precisely the opposite reason. She has been an effective defender of Wall Street for 10 years. If she can 'flip' her focus back to prosecution (as she did to defense 10 years ago), she could be very effective given her knowledge of how that works.

It’s a variant of the old argument for picking a police chief who knows what the crooks are up to, which is what F.D.R. did when he appointed Joseph Kennedy, a notorious Wall Street speculator, to be the first chairman of the S.E.C. In introducing White as his nominee, Obama intimated that he saw in her a similarly formidable character. “You don’t want to mess with Mary Jo,” he said.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/01/send-mary-jo-white-to-justice-not-the-sec.html

[joshcryer]

37. I'm sure he hired her solely because she is capable.

I doubt he has ulterior motives or wants her to behave a certain way (either for or against corruption, which the OP would have you believe he's for).

The question is whether she'll crack down or not, and the OP and the sources here do not convince me one way or another, simply because they say the exact opposite thing. On one hand she's a nightmare for corruption, on the other, she'll protect the corrupt! In that vein this entire discussion is pointless drivel since no one can divine what she'll do.

One thing is absolutely for sure, if she does crack down on corruption we won't hear about it from the Obama detractors. If she doesn't? Oh, there will be OPs weekly.

[theaocp]

24. What happens when she

is ineffective? Seriously. I'll eat crow if she pulls 1/2 an Iceland, but what if she doesn't? Is that Republican obstruction?

[WillyT]

34. Did You Catch This ???

Link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022280142