Guarding the henhouse

MANIFESTO

As Atrios might say, nobody could have predicted:

[A]ccording to a veteran agency source, under [Chairman Chris] Cox's leadership the [Securities Exchange C]ommission has made it increasingly difficult for investigators to obtain subpoenas, with the inevitable result that they have become less likely to ask for them ...

[A]ccording to [the] staffer, the failure to seek subpoena power in [the Madoff] case was in large part a natural result of the chairman's own policy.

"Under Cox, increasingly burdensome standards were applied to obtain subpoena power," [according to the source]. For investigators to obtain subpoena power, they're required to write a memo to the SEC's commissioners. Previous commissioners were more willing to respond by granting subpoena requests. "But under Cox," the source continued, "when you bring your memo down there, they pepper you with questions. It dies a thousand-cuts death."

This is exactly the kind of conflict-of-interest nonsense that one assumes will be eliminated after January 20.