Goldman Sachs: SEC Commissioners Often Vote 3-2 Along Party Lines

A look at important issues that have come before the Securities Exchange Commission in the last year indicate that the agency is heavily politicized.

Republican Commissioners Kathleen Casey and Troy Paredes voted against making the charges against Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) announced on Friday.  Elisse Walter and Luis Aguilar, both Democrats, joined SEC chair Mary Schapiro and voted in favor of protecting Goldman according to Bloomberg

The vote along party lines  happens often at the SEC.

On February 24th, SEC commissioners voted 3-2 today to restrict short sales of a company’s stock once it falls 10% from the previous day’s closing price. And that is just the beginning.

On January 27, in a 3-2 vote, the SEC ruled that companies “must consider the effects of global warming and efforts to curb climate change when disclosing business risks to investors.”

Last May, after a 3-2 vote, the commissioners decided shareholders should be able to nominate directors for public companies and for mutual funds more easily under a proposed rule.

This history suggests that the timing of the Goldman Sachs decision is more than convenient – just as the Democrats are working to get financial reform through Congress.

The SEC is a regulatory agency, not a democratic caucus.

It hard to get a fair deal when the house holds the aces.

Douglas A. McIntyre