WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Friday called on President Barack Obama to fire Mary Jo White from her position as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission over accusations she favors corporate interests.
Warren sent a 12-page letter to Obama in which she said White has engaged in “extraordinary, ongoing efforts to undermine the agency’s central mission” since she was chosen as head of the SEC in 2013.
“I do not make this request lightly,” Warren wrote. “I have tried both publicly and privately to persuade Chair White to direct the agency’s resources toward pressing matters of compelling interest to investors and the public, and toward completing those rules that Congress has required it to implement. But after years of fruitless efforts, it is clear that Chair White is set on her course. The only way to return the SEC to its intended purpose is to change its leadership.”
Warren’s main complaint is White’s refusal to begin work on a rule that would require corporations to disclose their political spending activities. Work on that rule was stripped from the commission’s agenda.
White previously said political-spending disclosures were not “one of the priorities” the SEC is working on. Republicans oppose the rule that would make corporations report political donations because securities laws require corporations to report only information that shareholders would need to make investment decisions.
If Obama were to replace White with one of two current SEC commissioners, as Warren suggests, he would not need the Senate’s confirmation.
