by TChris

The President's web page on corporate responsibility claims that his administration "continues to pursue an aggressive agenda to fight corporate fraud and abuse" for the protection of investors. So the Bush administration must support regulatory proposals that benefit investors, right?

The Securities and Exchange Commission has come under intense pressure from business and some members of the Bush administration to water down proposed rule changes in the way corporate boards are elected, mutual funds are governed and hedge funds are regulated.

The proposals, which flow from scandals in the mutual fund industry and at some of the nation's largest corporations, have split the agency largely along partisan lines. The two Democratic commissioners support them, the two Republicans have expressed skepticism about them, and the swing vote is in the hands of the agency's chairman, William H. Donaldson, a Bush appointee.

Donaldson is being pressured to water down the rules by "an administration eager to court the chief executives during an election year."

The White House web page gives the President credit for leading the S.E.C.'s effort to improve corporate accountability, and it leaves the impression that the administration fully supports proposals for reform. The administration's effort to sway the S.E.C. in favor of corporate executives isn't mentioned.