President Bush nominated Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) to chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the nation’s top securities regulator. As a member of Congress, Cox has built a long record of undermining protections for working families, retirees and their pension funds at nearly every opportunity—and of accepting contributions from Wall Street.

President Bush wants to invest our Social Security money in the capital markets. The SEC is the regulatory agency that supervises the capital markets. As chairman, Cox would run the SEC on a daily basis and have enormous power to enforce securities laws, set regulations, hold corporate wrongdoers accountable and police America's retirement security.

Cox would need Senate confirmation to win the SEC job. Please tell your senators to vigorously investigate Chris Cox's record before making him the top cop of the capital markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I urge you to vigorously investigate the record of Rep. Christopher Cox before you decide on his nomination as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

At a time when President Bush wants to invest our Social Security money in the capital markets, the SEC has a special obligation to protect America's retirement security from corporate misconduct. But as a member of Congress, Rep. Cox has built a long record of undermining protections for working families, retirees and their pension funds at nearly every opportunity. Please check his record:

* If Rep. Cox had his way, corporate executives could recklessly defraud investors--and investors could not sue. In 1995, Rep. Cox led an unsuccessful fight for a radical version of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act that would have made it impossible for defrauded investors to get any money back. Rep. Cox's bill would have made the "I knew nothing" defenses since asserted by Enron's Ken Lay and WorldCom's Bernie Ebbers the law of the land. * Rep. Cox is protecting runaway CEO pay by opposing stock option expensing. Rep. Cox thinks that while company financial statements have to show the costs of health care, pensions and ordinary worker salaries, they should not have to show the costs of stock options. * Rep. Cox thinks Enron doesn't change a thing. After the collapse of Enron, Rep. Cox "rejected the notion that Enron's meltdown should cause Congress to rethink deregulation." (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 2002) * Rep. Cox has accepted more contributions from financial services firms than from any other industry group.

The enormous corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and HealthSouth--as well as widespread trading abuses in the mutual fund industry, conflicts of interest involving Wall Street research and questionable insurance dealings--prove we need a vigilant SEC to hold corporate executives accountable.

Given his record, I do not think Rep. Cox is the right choice to head the SEC. I urge you to investigate carefully Rep. Cox's record. If you cannot find anything in his record that supports his nomination either, I call on you to oppose Rep. Cox as SEC chairman.

You have the opportunity to take a stand for working families' retirement security and investor rights. I am counting on you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
June 13, 2005