That's the provacative title of an
op-ed by Jamie Court in the L.A. Times.
The article goes on to deftly describe yet another incidence of Bush nominating a fox to guard the people's henhouse. In this case its the Securities and Exchange Commission that is being put into the hands of one of Washinton's biggest shills for Wall Street.
But its worse than just a pro-business Republican watching over his corporate compatriots. Cox is a walking advocate for corruption with a resume that demonstrates his skill at it.
From Court's article:
Democrats have been eerily silent on Cox, a right-wing Republican who wrote a 1995 law making it harder for investors to take corporate swindlers to court. Cox's Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, which became law over President Clinton's veto, has been blamed for allowing some of the nation's worst financial scandals -- including those at Enron and WorldCom -- to proceed unchecked. The law let corporate executives off the hook for exactly the kind of utterly misleading statements Enron Chief Executive Kenneth Lay made to keep his company's stock price artificially high.
So Cox is the author of legislation to bullet-proof the corporate evildoers in the securities and investment industry that he may soon be regulating. And, not surprisingly, he has collected more than a quarter of a million dollars from them in campaign contributions.
But that's not the worst of it:
Cox's approach to corporate crime predates his time in Congress. As a private securities attorney in the mid-1980s, Cox worked for William Cooper and his company, First Pension Corp. Cooper was accused of running a Ponzi scheme, convicted of fraud and imprisoned.
After Cooper was caught, Cox, then a congressman, claimed he had not known his client was a fraud. Nonetheless, Cox was sued by investors for what they said was his role in misleading regulators on Cooper's behalf. Cox's law firm settled the case.
Cox's claim of ignorance is troubling in that he was actively participating in these matters. Investors had a right to be angry given that Cox:
- personally characterized the investments as low risk
- failed to disclose to regulators that Cooper's real estate license had been suspended in another alleged fraud
- failed to disclose that First Pension was under investigation by the SEC
Granted, there's a lot on our plates at the moment, but Judge Roberts confirmation hearings are at least a month away. John Bolton is in limbo (barring a recess appointment that is being rumored). But the Senate is holding hearings to confirm Cox next week and we ought to be able to at least stir up some dust. This is a major opportunity to further define Republican Brand© politics as corrupt and beholden to corporate special interests. Why aren't we on the case?